Origin
by LittletonPace
Summary: *Alternate season 1* *original character centric* She survived Oceanic Flight 815, this is Riley Madison's story.
1. Chapter 1: Meeting Place

Author's Notes/Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story, nor do I own any rights to the television show "Lost". They were created by JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof and they belong to them, Touchstone, and ABC. I claim credit for Riley alone;nothing else about LOST is mine. This was written totally for entertainment.

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**Chapter 1: Meeting Place**

_I'm bleeding..._Riley's mind told her. _Bad_. Her brain awoke and seemed to ignite every nerve in her body. And apparently every nerve was screaming bloody murder. Her whole body ached and her eyes were closed so she tried to will her brain to force them open. It listened. After a few painful, blurry blinks she began to see colours and shadows. Soon she realized she was staring out of her plane window; still securely strapped in her seat. It took her a moment to realize that instead of blue sky coasting past her; the window showed a clear view of the sand. It was then Riley's ears decided to start listening again.

"_Walt!"_

"_Help me! Please!"_

"_Get away from there! Watch the gas!"_

"_Please help!"_

"_AGHHH!!!"_

Riley snapped her head up off her chair and gained a full view of the scene around her. Carnage and terror at every glance, people screaming in pain and terror and bodies scattered like the luggage around them.

"Hey!" A voice screamed loudly. "Hey! Are you alright? Are you ok?"

Riley realized the voice was talking to her. In front of her eyes was the face of a scared young man; blood pouring from a wound to his head. She couldn't seem to get her voice working.

"I gotta get you outta here; this whole thing's unstable." He said to her with frantic eyes as he grabbed for her seat belt. It only took him a few seconds to rip it out of the badly damaged seat frame. "Does your back hurt? Can you walk?" he asked her before he touched her.

Riley managed a slow but firm shake of her head. The young man slipped one arm around her back and the other under her knees and lifted her up. That's when she realized she'd been half buried in the sand on a weird angle. She wondered momentarily how long she'd been there but the sound of a loud whir caught her ear. She looked up to see the wing of the plane wavering in the sky as though it was a flag in the breeze. She squeezed her arms around the neck of her saviour as he ran her up the beach away from the immediate danger.

Soon he was laying her down on the sand; breathing heavily from exertion. "You'll be alright." He panted as he sank to his knees beside her.

When the initial shock died down, Riley found her voice. "I'm-I'm alright; I think." She muttered; holding her hand to the side of her head that seemed to throb with every beat of her heart.

"You sure?" The young-man asked her concernedly. "You're bleeding pretty much everywhere." He looked her up and down.

"What happened?" Riley stared out to the wreckage before her. It was like something from a movie. Flaming wheels, cries of terror and loss; it was horrific.

"We crashed." The man said bluntly as he glanced around the scene like she was. His eyes fell on an unconscious black woman a few feet from where they were. "I'll be right back." He said to Riley; clasping her shoulder. "You be alright?"

Riley nodded as he got to his feet and ran away. She watched as he skidded to a halt beside the woman, check if she was breathing and then start CPR. Riley looked down at herself for the first time and saw that she was, indeed, covered in blood. Her jeans were smeared in crimson from the waist down and her blue sweatshirt was stained so much it had changed colour to a deep purple. She felt inside her clothing at her skin and breathed a sigh of relief; she wasn't cut. The blood wasn't her own. She then began to fear for whose it was. Her mind wandered back to who she'd been sitting next to on the plane. There had been no one directly beside her but on the aisle there had been a red-haired woman madly completing crossword after crossword. Riley recalled the woman had barely looked up throughout the flight. Glancing around; Riley didn't see the woman nearby.

Ahead of her, Riley noticed another man helping the young man who'd saved her with CPR. A handsome man with very short, dark hair wearing a dirty, but smart, suit. He said something to the young man that made him jump to his feet and take off. He came running back to Riley.

"You got a pen? I need a pen." He said frantically.

Riley could only shake her head and he ran off again; stopping people he passed and presumably asking them the same question. Riley suddenly felt confident enough to test her legs. She could still feel them so she hoped that was a good sign. She paused on her haunches momentarily before rising off the sand. Her bones ached and her head throbbed; but other than that she felt alright.

"_Get away from the wing! Get her up!"_

Riley turned and saw the handsome man in the suit that had been performing CPR now running towards a heavy-set, wiry-haired fellow and a young, blonde pregnant girl. She was lifted to her feet by both men and together they ran as the wing fell behind them into a large portion of the plane. A gigantic boom seemed to shake the very air around Riley as she held up a hand to shield her eyes. The heat emitting from the explosion made her eyes water and sting.

"Are you alright, dear?" a voice said to her.

Opening her eyes; Riley saw the woman who had been receiving the CPR standing before her and clutching the cross around her neck. "Ye-Yes." Riley muttered. "You should sit-sit down."

"I'm fine; thanks to that doctor." She said pointing to the suited man. "My name is Rose."

"Riley." Riley answered with a wobbly smile.

"Do you mind if I sit with you, Riley?" Rose asked.

Riley nodded and sat herself back down in the sand. Rose sat beside her and shook her head at the tragedy around them. They sat for a couple of hours; both adjusting to their new surroundings. Riley had been listening to music when the plane had started shuddering. When it nosedived she'd lurched in her seat and smacked her head on her window. Everything after that was a blur.

The sun set over the wreckage just over an hour later and Rose was still sitting by Riley when the handsome man in the suit came over to them.

"Hey, I'm Jack." He said with a smile. "I'm a doctor; are you guys ok?"

Rose nodded twirling the ring on the chain draped around her neck. Her husband Bernard's ring, she'd told Riley. His fingers swelled when they flew so she took care of it for him. He'd been in the bathroom in the back of the plane when it had snapped mid-air. Riley didn't know where the tail section was; but it definitely wasn't on the beach.

Jack reached out the touched the cut on Riley's forehead. "Does it hurt?" he asked.

"No, no." Riley replied. "Not really."

"Whose blood is that?" he asked with a furrowed brow as he glanced at her clothes.

"Not mine." Riley shook her head.

"You should get outta those clothes." He told her. "People are collecting bags and stuff up the beach. And the big guy, Hurley, he's passing around food. Don't worry," He added with a smile. "I'm sure rescue will be here soon." With that he got up and headed away.

Riley left Rose be and went searching for something else to wear. She sun was almost gone and the other survivors had started fires and were sitting silently in groups; eating plane food and sharing polite conversation. Close to the treeline, people had stacked suitcases and duffle bags away from the ocean and plane debris. Riley had taken three bags on the plane; her shoulder bag, her laptop bag and her suitcase. Her suitcase had been stored in the cargo hold of the plane; she doubted she'd see it again. And even if she found her shoulder bag, there weren't any clothes in it. So instead she just rifled through some random suitcases until she found a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans.

Riley headed down to a part of the ocean that was hidden in the darkness. Trying to forget that scene in _Jaws_ where the shark came outta nowhere; Riley stripped off and began washing the blood off her body. She realized it was also dried into her hair so she dunk her head underwater a couple of times to rinse it out. As she climbed out of the water she realized she'd neglected to grab a towel or something to dry off with so she was left standing alone on the beach in her underwear. That was until she was no longer alone.

"Hey!" A male voice called to her. "Do you have a phone sig--oh my God!" he saw her in the moonlight and noted she was sans clothing and immediately turned around.

"Do you mind?!" Riley snapped; using her dry clothes to cover herself up.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He said turning his back. "I didn't think you'd be...sorry."

"Who the hell do you think you are?" She snapped as she yanked on her borrowed clothes.

"I'm-I'm Boone." He answered; waving over his shoulder. "We met before...kinda. I got you outta your seat...?"

"Oh." Riley muttered as she crossed her arms over her now covered chest. "Right...yeah...you can turn around now."

Boone tentatively turned back; thankful the sun had set because he was blushing madly. "I was just gonna ask if you had phone service?" he waved his cell in front of his face. "I can't seem to get a signal..."

"My phone was in my bag." Riley remembered. "And I can't find my bag..." she shrugged.

He nodded at her; his eyes glinting in the moonlight. "We got food up there," Boone pointed up the beach. "If you want..."

Riley nodded and joined him for a walk back up to the beach. They sat by a fire with the pregnant girl and another blonde who was painting her toenails by firelight. Riley sat beside the pregnant girl and discovered her name was Claire and she, too, was an Australian. She offered Riley one of the two plane meals in her lap and they started chatting. Riley noticed Boone sit beside the blonde painting her nails and offer her a chocolate bar. Muttering a very bitchy comment about not starting to eat sugar now, she declined and went back to her nail treatment. Boone sat beside her and happily gorged down the chocolate bar; seemingly enjoying the disgusted look on her face.

Claire and Riley were laughing about a crack Claire made about the food when the strangest sound Riley had ever heard roared out of the jungle behind them.

"_Wooooooooo!"_

The sound was accompanied by loud, metal clinks like an enormous bike chain whirling around and around. Riley and Claire got to their feet and stood with their fellow survivors whose eyes were all glued to the jungle. The trees in the distance shook and swayed as though an invisible force in the darkness was knocking them about.

"Did anybody see that?" Claire asked the group.

Behind them, Hurley muttered a low '_Yeah'_ as Boone jumped to his feet and stood beside Riley and Claire. "What the hell...?" he muttered. To their left, a young man in a hoodie grumbled under his breath,

"Terrific."

**xxx**


	2. Chapter 2: Keeping On

**Chapter 2: Keeping On**

Riley had a restless night's sleep beside Claire next to the fire. The weird sound they'd heard the night before kept ringing in her ears. She and Claire had chatted until late about what on earth it could have been and the best answer they could come up with was that it was another piece of the plane burning and exploding loudly somewhere in the jungle. They both dismissed it and figured it didn't matter; rescue would have to arrive soon.

The crash of the ocean against the beach was what woke Riley the next morning. The sun was beaming down on her as she sat up and noticed Claire, still asleep, beside her with her arms draped across her belly. Not wanting to wake her, Riley quietly got to her feet and headed over to where Boone, Hurley and some other people were talking. As she approached she heard that the group were also discussing what the sound could have been.

"Wasn't natural." Said the African-American man named Michael who was eying his young son, Walt, carefully. "Whatever it was; it wasn't natural."

"Hopefully we won't have to worry about." Riley spoke up as she sat down between Boone and Charlie. "I mean, rescue's gotta be close, right?"

"Well, in case not," Jack announced as he walked over to them. "We should head out and look for the cockpit, see if we can find a transceiver or something and help the rescue team." He nodded at Boone. "You're gonna need to keep an eye on the wounded." Boone eagerly got to his feet as Jack pointed to a sheltered area away from the wreckage. "That's where the guy in the suit is. If he wakes up just try to keep him calm and _don't_ let him take out the shrapnel."

Riley listened half-heartedly as she glanced around the camp. Transceivers weren't really her thing. Give her a computer problem and she'd solve it in a second; she could hack into anything. Jack and Boone were still talking so Riley turned to Charlie. "You're Charlie, right?" she asked him.

"I am." He extended a hand to her. "Nice to meet you...?"

"Riley." She finished for him noticing a heavy, silver ring on his finger with DS stamped on it. "That's a cool ring." She noted.

"Oh, thanks." Charlie ran his thumb over it. "It's my band's ring. Might have heard of us...Drive Shaft?"

Riley, who considered herself quite musical, frowned and shook her head. "Sorry."

"We're pretty big in England." He told her. "Well, we used to be..."

"That's nice." She smiled politely for lack of anything useful to say.

"Riley?" Boone called to her as Jack headed towards Kate.

"Yeah?" She turned and looked at him.

"I'll see ya later, ok?" Charlie excused himself to Riley as he got to his feet and headed towards Jack and Kate.

"Bye." She said to Charlie as Boone knelt down in front of her. "Jack's going to find the fuselage," He told her. "Looking for a transceiver to send out a signal. If he can do that; it'll be easier for the rescue boats to find us."

"Yeah, heard." She told him. "He left you in charge, huh?"

Boone shrugged and nodded in unison. "Wanna give me a hand?" He asked her. "Make sure everyone's still ok?"

"Sure." Riley agreed happily as she got to her feet. Boone was wearing a button up, blue shirt over a white t-shirt that fit his muscular torso perfectly; she hadn't noticed it before due to all the carnage and chaos. He had toned arms as well; similar to Riley's Uncle Al who'd been a frivolous tennis player in his youth.

"So how'd you sleep?" Boone asked Riley as they stopped to each grab a bottle of Oceanic water.

"Fine; considering." Riley answered nodding her head out towards the loud crashing waves that smashed onto the beach; the sound was just as loud as it had been the night before. "But I'll tell ya; I'm not doing so well without coffee."

"You're an addict." Boone smiled and nodded. "Same."

"I feel like those heroin addicts you see on TV, y'know?" Riley said. "I told myself I didn't 'need' the coffee, I could stop whenever I wanted it...turns out; I'm a liar."

Boone chuckled. "Hopefully the rescue boat comes with a fully stocked coffee cart." he quipped.

The pair of them checked on the survivors nearby. Riley tapped into that two weekends of First Aid training she'd taken the year before and managed to bandage up some cuts and scrapes. When Boone and Riley had made sure that everyone who was alive the night before was still keeping on, they banded together with a few other people who were sorting bags around. Riley found herself trying to remember names. Sayid, a very helpful Arab man seemed to be the one who'd organized the bag collectors while Sawyer, a handsome but anti-social Southerner, was keeping to himself while reading a book and smoking up against a piece of discarded plane wreckage. Riley found Rose lugging bags along and helped her move one particularly heavy suitcase off of the water's edge and up onto the beach. It was then she noticed how dark the sky was getting.

"Wow," Riley mumbled to Rose. "It got dark quick..."

"It sure did." Rose agreed scanning the sky with her astute eyes.

All of a sudden there was a load clap of thunder and the rain began to pour as if out of nowhere. People on the beach began running around looking for cover. Riley and Rose hurried towards the wing of the plane where most people were taking cover when Riley noticed Claire struggling to get to her feet. She stopped and reached down to help her up.

"Thanks." Claire told her gratefully as the two of them took cover under the wing.

Riley was looking for some water for Claire, who was panting due to the sudden use of exertion, when they all heard it again.

_"Wooooooooo!"_

It was followed by the loud clicking noises and crashing of tree branches.

Claire peered out behind the wing and looked into the jungle. "There it is again..." She mumbled.

"My God..." Rose added from behind Claire, clutching the ring on her necklace tightly in her fist.

"What the hell is that?" Riley wondered aloud as she stood beside Claire. The pregnant girl just shook her head in response. Their theory that it was plane wreckage was kind of shot to hell since the sound was echoing through the heavy sheets of rainfall.

They rain cleared after about ten minutes or so and then the sun was shining all over again. Riley, who had been pre-occupied with getting Rose and Claire into shelter, hadn't bothered to get her clothes out of the rain. So they'd spent all night drying from the day before and now were wet all over again. She cursed herself for not thinking ahead and wished she could get a hold of her suitcase and maybe find her clothes. But if the fuselage was as far into the jungle as Jack thought; there would be a trail of suitcases and baggage from there to the beach. Not to mention the stuff that didn't make it out of the water.

"Hey," A female voice said behind Riley as she was wringing out her only set of clothes. Although the borrowed ones she was wearing would probably find their way into her very limited rotation. "You need some clothes?"

Riley turned to see a young, attractive woman with golden blonde hair smiling at her. "Ah, yeah, I guess." She added a passing comment about not being able to find her bags.

"I found my stuff; we're about the same size." She smiled.

Riley glanced at the woman up and down. She was shorter than average and naturally slim with a tan Riley was envious of plus she wore very short, white denim cut offs and a spaghetti strapped singlet top – not exactly Riley's style - but she was nice enough. "Thanks; that'd be great." She smiled. "I'm Riley."

"Nikki." She replied.

Nikki took Riley to her bags and handed her a pair of shorts, thankfully a bit longer than the ones Nikki was wearing, and a collared, light blue tee that showed a little more of Riley's not-so-toned belly than she would have liked. Riley wasn't fat; but her years of learning about and working on computers didn't exactly give her abs of steel. Still; she liked eating too much to care about her little 'jelly belly' as her sister called it; Maggie had always been naturally thin as a rail.

Happily dry, Riley thanked Nikki and headed back towards Boone. On her way she passed Claire who was sunning herself dry in one of the plane chairs that had been detached from the fuselage.

"Hey, Shannon," Boone called to the blonde in the skimpy, red bikini who was sunbathing near Claire. "We're sorting some clothes...I see you found your bag." He seemed annoyed. "Come on; wanna give us a hand?"

Shannon didn't reply. Clearly irritated, Boone walked away. From their interactions, Riley knew Boone and Shannon had a pre-crash relationship. To what degree, she didn't know.

"Is that your boyfriend?" Claire asked Shannon, apparently wondering the same thing as Riley.

"My brother." She replied. "God's friggin' gift to humanity."

Riley couldn't help but feel happier knowing the two were siblings as she headed towards Boone who was separating wet bags from dry bags. The force at which he was tossing them told Riley he was still mad at his sister. "Need a hand?" She offered.

Boone looked at her and the scowl on his face disappeared. "Hey," He noticed her clothes. "You changed..." His eyes lingered on her legs for a moment.

Riley smiled, ignoring his stares. Her legs were not her favourite feature; unlike Nikki she didn't tan well. "You too." She replied. Boone was now just wearing jeans and a form fitting white t-shirt that hugged his chiselled body in just the right way. He looked like he'd just walked off a Calvin Klein billboard. And the smudges of ash and dirt across his skin and clothes didn't hurt either. "So, what's the go, here?" Riley cleared her through and gestured at the bags. "Assembly line? Pick and choose?"

Boone smiled. "Actually, we could probably just start opening 'em up; sorting through." He suggested indicating the pile of dry bags he'd been compiling. "I've been looking for ID's and stuff." He told her as they both sat cross legged in front of the bags and selected one to look through.

Riley nodded and unzipped a suitcase. She felt like she was invading someone's privacy. She sure wouldn't want anyone going through her bag. There wasn't anything terribly incriminating or even interesting in there, but it was her bag, her property. "So, Shannon," Riley spoke up. "She's your sister?"

"Step-sister." Boone corrected her. "My mum married her dad; he died a couple of years ago."

"Oh." Riley muttered, searching for something more interesting to say. "So what do you do in the real world?" She asked him.

"I used to be a lifeguard." Boone told her as he sifted through the contents of a bag. "But now I run a wedding company in the States." He told her. "Well, it's my mother's company."

Riley nodded along as he spoke. He was from a wealthy family; as if his looks weren't enough. Some people had all the luck. But even though he looked like the stereotype; he wasn't. Riley had met the clichéd look-at-me-I'm-so-hot guy more than once in her life and she avoided them at all costs. Boone wasn't like that; he was very easy to talk to, something Riley admired. His sister on the other hand seemed to be a walking cliché.

"What about you?" Boone suddenly asked, snapping Riley out of her thoughts. "What do you do in the real world?"

"Depends what day of the week it is." Riley smirked at him. "Monday through Friday I work for a computer Tech Support hotline, weekends I tend a bar."

"Tech Support?" Boone repeated. "You?"

"Yeah, why?" Riley asked, wondering why he seemed surprised at this.

Boone shrugged. "Just...I don't know a lot of Tech Support people as pretty as you." He said. "Then again; I don't know that many."

Riley tried to decipher what he'd said. He wasn't flirting, or if he was he was so good at it he didn't realize he was doing it. He'd said it so nonchalant; as if stating a fact more than giving a compliment. That made Riley uncomfortable again. Boone continued the conversation by asking Riley about her family. They talked for another hour or so before a commotion at the end of the beach near the fuselage gained their interest. Sayid and Sawyer were mouthing off and shoving each other around. Riley and Boone got to their feet and hurried over.

"Tell everyone what you told me!" Sayid was yelling. "Tell them that I crashed the plane! Go on! Tell them I made the plane crash!"

"The shoe fits, buddy!" Sawyer snapped back holding his arms out.

"What is going on?" Jack asked as he came into view. Riley hadn't seen he, Kate or Charlie return.

Michael held up a pair of handcuffs. "Look, my kid found these in the jungle." He said handing them over to Jack.

"And this guy was sitting in the back row of business class, the whole flight, never got up. Hands folded underneath the blanket." Sawyer spoke to the audience the fight had gathered. "And for some reason - just pointin' this out - the guy sittin' next to him didn't make it.

"Thank you so much for observing my behaviour." Sayid snapped sarcastically.

"So just 'cos he's Arab it's his fault?" Riley found herself saying loudly. A lot of eyes around her suddenly stared in her direction. "Come on; be original. The plane didn't blow up; it nosedived." She pointed out.

"Did I ask your opinion, sweetheart?!" He yelled at her with fiercely angry eyes.

"Cut it out!" Boone yelled over him.

"Shove it, Metro!" Sawyer yelled back before turning once again to Sayid. "You don't think I saw them pull you out of line before we boarded?" This comment enraged Sayid further and he lunged at Sawyer once again.

"STOP!" Kate suddenly yelled. It did the trick; everyone shut up and looked to her. "We found the transceiver, but it's not working." She said in a calmer voice. "Can anybody help?"

"Yes. I might be able to." Sayid offered.

"Oh great." Sawyer said sardonically. "Perfect! Let's trust this guy!"

"Hey!" Hurley shouted at him. "We're all this together, man. Let's treat each other with a little respect."

"Shut up, Lardo." Sawyer sniped back at him.

"Hey!" Jack silenced Sawyer. "Give it a break."

"Whatever you say, Doc." Sawyer glowered at him. "You're the hero." With that he kicked his foot heavily in the sand and stormed off.

"You guys found the cockpit?" Boone approached Jack. "Any survivors?" Jack just shook his head in response.

Riley wasn't paying attention; she'd been following Sawyer with her eyes when she'd locked vision with Shannon. She'd tossed a shawl over her shoulders but was still barely bikini clad. And she was giving Riley a death stare.

"Don't worry about him." Boone said to Riley, thinking she'd been watching Sawyer and not his sister. "He's a dumb ass." He took a few steps away from her. "I'm gonna go check on that shrapnel guy; I'll be back."

"Sure." Riley watched him leave and slowly drifted towards Claire who'd been watching the fight from her plane seat in the sand. Out of her peripheral, she saw the blurred shape of Shannon moving towards her. Hoping to bypass her, Riley didn't acknowledge the girl until spoke.

"Why are you hanging around my brother?" She asked with narrowed eyes.

"Excuse me?" Riley asked turning around to face a set of what could only be described as bitchy eyes.

"Don't play dumb," Shannon snapped. "I'm better at it than you."

"I don't doubt that." Riley muttered. "But I don't know what you're talking about."

"I don't know what you're thinking of doing," Shannon asked her flicking her hair over her shoulder. "But forget it." She looked her up and down. "You are _so_ not his type." With a satisfied smirk, she turned on her heel and headed back down the beach, presumably looking for another place to sunbathe.

Riley rolled her eyes to herself. Girls like Shannon had made Riley's high-school years a living hell. It was only when she went to university and met so many happy-to-called-geeks that she got comfortable in her own skin. Comments like Shannon's didn't bother her as they used to; she really couldn't care less. She looked in Boone's direction and he caught her gaze, turning up one corner of his mouth into a smile. Riley smiled back and continued towards Claire. Boone seemed to like spending time with her; and in Riley's mind that trumped anything Shannon had to say.


	3. Chapter 3: Shall We Hike?

**Chapter Three: Shall We Hike?**

It was while talking with Claire that Riley overheard Kate talking with Jack about Sayid's plan. Apparently the transceiver only had enough battery power for one shot at getting their signal out there. But for them to have a better shot at the signal being picked up; they had to be higher above ground than where they were at the moment. Thinking a wander through the jungle might be a good time to search for her bag; Riley told Claire she'd be back and went over to Kate and offered her help.

"Sure." Kate agreed with a warm smile. "You're Riley, right?"

Riley nodded and opened her mouth to say more but was interrupted by someone else.

"I'd like to come with you." Shannon practically demanded at Kate as she stormed over; an angry Boone at her heels.

"She's not going." Boone assured Kate. "She doesn't want to go."

"The hell I'm not!" Shannon yelled at him.

"It's what she does." Boone tried to explain. "She makes really bad decisions to upset her family, which, at the moment, is me."

"You don't know what the hell I do!" Shannon tried to yell over him. "Just shut up, and stop trying to be charming." She turned back to Kate. "I'm coming with you."

"I don't… know if that's such a good idea." Kate said carefully.

"What are you? Two years older than me? Please." She said to Charlie who had just appeared. "You're going, aren't you?"

"Yeah, are you?" Charlie asked happily, obviously taken with Shannon's attention to him.

"Yup." She grinned.

"Yeah, I'm definitely going." Charlie said eagerly.

"Look, everybody can come. But we're leaving now." Kate took charge and led with Sayid into the jungle. Shannon, wanting to show her apparently useful abilities, kept close to them and Charlie kept close to her. Riley and Boone brought up the rear. They'd barely got clear of the beach when they gained another hiker; Sawyer.

"You decided to join us." Kate mumbled loud enough for him to hear.

"I'm a complex guy, sweetheart." He hollered as he took the lead.

Riley was grateful Charlie had come with them because his constant attempts to get Shannon's attention diverted her from giving Riley evil glances or purposely standing between her and her brother. She was very protective of him. Boone had mentioned that at 22, he was two years older than Shannon. Maggie was seventeen; four years younger than Riley and she wasn't this protective. Well, perhaps she was but not in a situation like this. She encouraged her sister to meet new people. Although with the crash and all, Riley assumed Shannon might just be clinging to some form of normalcy which, unfortunately for Riley, seemed to be Boone.

The group hiked higher and higher and eventually came to a cliff face with vines growing off of it. The only other way around seemed to be a very long walk back down and around the hill they'd just climbed so they all bit the bullet and started climbing. Contrary to what Riley first thought, Sawyer was actually helpful. He reached the top first and lowered his hand down to both Kate and Riley to get them up safely. Boone had been shadowing Shannon the whole way up the cliff face, double checking her footing and the like. Now _that_ was normal sibling behaviour to Riley, she'd done the same thing to Maggie when they'd gone rock climbing on their parents' anniversary; for some reason they'd decided on a daredevil weekend to help them bond as a family. That's what Riley's father, Mick, had said anyway.

The group got up atop the cliff without incident and continued walking for another hour or so until they found themselves in an open space filled with very long grass that came up over Riley's head.

"Okay!" Sawyer spoke up to Sayid. "Wide open space! You should check the radio, see if we're good."

"We're not going to have any reception here." Sayid replied matter-of-factly.

"Just try it." Sawyer argued.

"I don't want to waste the batteries." Sayid explained.

"I'm not asking you to keep it on all day." Sawyer snapped back.

"We're still blocked by the mountain." Sayid countered.

"Just check the damn radio!" Sawyer yelled.

"If I just check," Sayid approached him. "We might not have any juice left when we get to..." He stopped suddenly as he heard something.

Riley heard it to; a growl followed by a movement in the long grass. Brushing aside that scene from _Jurassic Park: The Lost World_ where the Velociraptors move through the grass and attack unsuspecting people, Riley kept close to Boone and Kate who were on either side of her.

"What the Hell is that?" Boone asked, also noticing the movement.

"Something's coming." Kate backed away and grabbed Riley by the wrist."

"It's coming towards us, I think." Charlie spoke up frantically.

"Come on, let's move." Kate spun on her heel and dragged Riley of with her as the two ran with Sayid and Charlie at their heels.

"I shouldn't have come." Shannon cried as Boone seized her hand and pulled her along after the others. "Aah!"

Riley was so focused on running she didn't know who was behind her. Suddenly Kate stopped and turned back. "Sawyer!" She yelled. Riley turned with her and realized he'd stayed behind and was now waiting for whatever it was with a gun aimed ready to fire. There was a loud roar as a blur of white shot out of the grass at Sawyer but he swiftly hit it with more than enough bullets and it dropped dead just before it reached him.

The threat gone; the group started to reform around Sawyer and what was now clearly a bear.

"That's a big bear." Shannon mumbled in awe as she gaped at the body.

"You think that's what killed the pilot?" Boone asked Charlie.

Riley's ears pricked up; that was the first she'd heard of the pilot being killed.

"No. No, that's a tiny, teeny version compared to that." Charlie answered.

"Guys, this isn't just a… bear." Kate realized. "That's a polar bear."

Boone almost laughed. "It can't be."

"It's a polar bear." Kate and Sayid said in unison.

"Polar bears don't usually live in the jungle." Shannon said weakly.

"No, they don't live this far _South_." Riley was thrilled to correct her. "They can't survive in our climate; that's why there aren't any in Australia. Everyone knows that." She added the last bit as a jibe to Shannon who glowered at her in response. "A polar bear couldn't live on this island."

"This one does." Boone told her; almost defensively.

"Did." Sawyer said. "It _did_."

"Where did that come from?" Kate asked him.

"Probably Bear Village." Sawyer replied sarcastically. "How the hell do I know?"

"Not the bear." Kate cut in. "The gun."

"I got if off one of the bodies." Sawyer explained with not nearly as much fervour as his previous statements.

"One of the bodies." Sayid repeated with a sardonic undertone to his voice.

"Yeah, one of the bodies." Sawyer told him firmly.

"People don't carry guns on planes." Shannon told him.

"They do if they're a US Marshal, sweet cheeks." Sawyer replied with a dimpled smile. "There was one on the plane."

"How do you know that?" Kate asked.

"I saw a guy lying there with an ankle holster, so I took the gun. I thought it might come in handy. Guess what?" He held his hands out expectantly. "I just _shot_ a _bear_."

"So why do you think he's a Marshal?" Kate asked, suddenly curious.

Sawyer removed a shiny badge from his pocket. "Because he had a clip-on badge." He held it up to her face. "I took that too. Thought it was cool."

"I know who you are." Sayid said quietly. "You're the prisoner."

"I'm the what?" Sawyer raised his eyebrows at him.

"You found a gun on a US Marshal. Yes, I believe you did." Sayid said with a knowing smirk on his face. "You knew where it was, because you were the one he was bringing back to the States. Those handcuffs were on you. That's how you knew there was a gun."

"Piss off." Sawyer sneered.

"That's who you are, you son of a bitch." Sayid growled. "You are the prisoner."

"Fine! I'm the criminal." He nodded at Sayid. "You're the terrorist. We can all play a part." He turned to Riley. "Who do you want to be?"

As Sawyer turned to Riley, Kate took the opportunity and grabbed the gun out of Sawyer's hands turning it on him. "Does anybody know how to use a gun?" She asked the others. "I want to take it apart."

"There's a button on the grip." Sayid spoke up. "Push that, it will eject the magazine." Kate easily followed his instructions. "There's still a round in the chamber. Hold the grip; pull the top part of the gun." Kate did as he said and handed him the magazine then gave Sawyer what remained of the gun.

The group continued walking along for another hour or so. Shannon, who was apparently sick of Charlie, kept very close to Boone and made it very difficult for Riley to talk to him at all. Instead Riley chatted to Charlie a little more about his band. She wasn't terribly interested but he seemed to enjoy talking about it and Riley was happy for his company. They walked until late afternoon until Sayid decided here was a good a place as any to click on the transceiver. Sawyer made a few cutting remarks about his choice of time to turn it on but no one paid him any attention.

"Bar." Sayid breathed as he stared down at the transceiver. "Hey! We've got a bar!" He held it to his mouth. "Mayday! Mayday!"

"What is that?" Kate asked as a loud static crackled through the speaker.

"Feedback." Sayid replied.

"Feedback from what?" Riley asked. "What would do that? Another radio?"

"I'll tell you what would do that." Sawyer told her. "This guy not fixing the radio; this thing doesn't even work."

"No. No, no, no, no, it's not broken." Sayid assured them. "We can't transmit because something else is already transmitting.

"Transmitting from where?" Charlie asked.

"Somewhere close. The signal's strong." Sayid starting looking around the horizon.

"Somewhere close? You mean on the island? That's great!" Charlie shouted with glee.

"Maybe it's other survivors." Boone suggested.

"From our plane?" Shannon snapped at him. "How would they even—"

"What kind of transmission is it?" Riley cut in.

"Could be a sat phone, maybe a radio signal…" Sayid muttered. "We might be able to hear it; let me get the frequency first. Hold on." He started fiddling with the knobs. "There; listen!" He held the transceiver up as a woman's accented voice spoke through the speaker sounded almost desperate.

"The rescue party. It has to be." Charlie said excitedly. "It's French! The French are coming! I've never been so happy to hear the French! "

"D-Does anybody speak French?" Sayid asked.

"She does." Boone nodded to his sister.

"What?" Shannon snapped. "No, I don't."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Boone retaliated. "You spent a year in Paris!"

"Drinking, not studying!" Shannon corrected him.

Suddenly the French woman's voice ending and a male voice came through. "Iteration 7294531." It said.

"Ok, so who is that?" Riley asked. No one had an answer for her.

"Oh, no." Sayid said thwacking the side of the transceiver. "No, no, no, no."

"What 'no'?" Kate asked worriedly.

"The batteries are dying!" Sayid said angrily.

"How much time do we have?" Riley asked.

"Not much." Sayid admitted.

"I've heard you speak French!" Boone shouted at his sister. "Just listen to this! Listen to it!"

"I can't!" Shannon shrieked.

"Iteration 17294532." The male voice said.

"That voice is weird. What is that?" Charlie shook his head at Riley.

"Come on. Come on, Shannon!" Boone prodded her as everyone else muttered encouragement.

Sighing, Shannon took the transceiver and held it to her ear as the male voice continued.

"Il est dehors."

"It's… it's repeating." Shannon realized,

Sayid listened. "She's right. It's a loop. "Iteration"—it's repeating the same message. It's a counter. The next number will end… "533"."

"Iteration 17294533." The male voice said.

"Anyone know what the hell he's talking about?" Sawyer asked irritably.

Riley's heart leapt; she was thrilled she actually knew what was going on. "He's right; it's running a count of numbers of times the message is repeated; it's really quite basic."

"It's roughly thirty seconds long..."Sayid said; crinkling his brow trying to do the math.

"Don't forget to carry the one, chief." Sawyer muttered.

"Iteration 17294534." The male voice continued as the French woman's message started again.

"She's saying… "Please"." Shannon started to get tears in her eyes. "She's saying, "Please help me. Please, come get me.""

"Or she's not! You don't even speak French!" Sawyer sniped.

"Let her listen!" Riley silenced him.

"Iteration 17294535." The male voice said.

"I'm alone now." Shannon said still listening. "Uhm… On the island alone. Please, someone come. They others, they're… they're dead." She was overcome with emotion. "It killed them. It killed them all."

"That was good." Boone told her.

"Sixteen years." Sayid said finally. "Sixteen years. And five months. That's the count."

" What the hell are you talking about?" Boone asked.

"That's how long it's been running." Riley explained. "It's a mayday and if his count is right, it's been playing over and over for sixteen years."

"Wait; so someone else was stranded here?" Boone cocked his head at her.

"Maybe someone came for them." Kate suggested.

"If someone came, why is it still playing?" Sawyer pointed out reasonably.

"Guys..." Charlie suddenly spoke gravely. "Where are we?"

**xxx**


	4. Chapter 4: Confessions

****

Chapter Four: Confessions

The group planned on hiking back to the beach that night but it grew dark a lot quicker than any of them expected so they decided to camp out in the open and head back the next day. They managed to get a fire going with Sawyer's lighter and some kindling they'd discovered nearby. Shannon was busy making sure where she sat didn't have bugs on it so Riley took the opportunity and asked Boone what he knew about the pilot. He told her that Charlie had told him there was something out there in the jungle; the same something that made that weird noise. And it was dangerous; it had snatched the pilot right out of the cockpit and tossed him high up into a tree after mutilating his body beyond recognition. Jack had thought it wasn't wise to tell everyone what they'd heard just yet especially if rescue was just around the corner; but apparently Riley was the last one in their little group to know this fact because Boone didn't bother keeping his voice hushed.

Sayid had been gathering some nearby props and now stood in the middle of the circle. "This is Australia." He said indicating an apple-sized rock he'd tossed down."This is us." He used the torch he'd lit up off the campfire to indicate their currently location. "Two days ago we take off from Sydney. We fly along the same north east route every commercial airliner bound for Los Angeles does." He used a stick to show the distance. "Now the pilot, he said he lost communication with the ground, correct?" he asked Kate.

"Yeah, 6 hours in." Kate nodded. "He turned around and headed for Fiji."

"So, we changed course. Regrettably, no one knew we changed course. The turbulence hit." He snuffed out the torch. "We know the rest."

"The pilot said we were over a thousand miles off course." Kate reminded everyone dejectedly.

"Yeah, but, they'll find us." Charlie spoke up hopefully. "They have satellites in space that can take pictures of your license plate."

"If only we were all wearing license plates." Sayid deadpanned. "Basic photography - point and shoot. Satellites can shoot, but they must be told where to point."

"Oh." Charlie said. "Bollocks."

"Okay, really enjoyed the puppet show." Sawyer spoke up sarcastically. "Fantastic. But we're stuck in the middle of damn nowhere. How about we talk about that other thing?" He asked the group. His question was met with furtive glances. "You know that transmission Abdul picked up on his little radio? The French chick that said, "They're all dead." The transmission's been on a loop for how long was it, Bondi?"

"16 years." Riley answered

"Right. Let's talk about that." Sawyer said slowly; his eyes staring blankly at the crackling fire.

"Well, we have to tell the others when we get back." Boone spoke up.

"Tell them what, exactly?" Shannon asked with attitude.

"What we heard." Boone

"You didn't hear anything." Shannon told him sharply. "I'm not a stupid translator."

"No one's going to tell them anything." Sayid cut in. "To relay what we heard without fully understanding it will cause a panic. If we tell them what we know we take away their hope. And hope is a very dangerous thing to lose."

Kate sighed loudly. "So we lie." She realized.

They didn't say much more. Sawyer laid down on his back and covered his face with his arm, Shannon used her sweater as a mattress so she didn't have to touch the ground and Sayid stayed nearby the fire, stoking it and apparently keeping watch with Kate who was leaning up against a large rock and watching the campfire. Riley used her arm as a pillow and tried to get some sleep. Boone was lying beside her and Riley found herself watching his chest rise and fall in the firelight as he drew in every breath. She watched as his breathing eventually slowed and her eyes became heavy. The last thing Riley heard was the cackling of the fire as she drifted off to sleep.

They all woke relatively early, no one getting a great sleep on the hard ground, and headed back to the beach. Sayid fell into step beside Riley as they walked. "From what you said last night; about the transceiver loop," He reminded her. "I assume you have experience with computers and electronics."

"Yeah," She nodded. "I studied Computer Science at university. Why?" She asked.

"When we get back to the beach, if we gather everything electronic we can find we might be able to power up the transceiver and try to send a signal again." Sayid explained.

"Oh, I'm not that good at building electrical stuff." She told him. "I just know how they work."

"That's still useful." He smiled at her.

"Well, I had a laptop on the plane but I don't know where it is now." She told him, sorry that she didn't have more to offer.

"That's ok." Sayid told her. "Perhaps when we get back to the beach you and a few others could gather cell phones, batteries, laptops, anything electrical you can find?"

Sayid had very honest eyes and a demeanor that made Riley want to help him out. "Sure."

"I'll help you." Boone said from behind her as he skipped up a couple of steps so he was walking beside Riley. He locked eyes with her and smiled.

"Thanks." Riley grinned back.

They made it back to the beach without incident. When they arrived, there was a group of expectant people waiting, including Jack. Sayid took the lead and explained what he thought they needed to hear while indicating that anyone with anything electronic should take it Riley and Boone. Riley listened to Sayid but also noticed Kate and Jack heading away from the group talking quietly amongst themselves; she wondered if Kate was telling him what happened on their hike – even though it had been her idea that they lie. Sayid then organized groups for gathering water, rationing the food from the plane that they had left and a third group to construct shelters with plane wreckage and tarps in case it should rain unexpectedly again.

However, right now the sun was beaming down brightly so Boone and Riley set up underneath a large oak tree where most of the bags had been tossed and began sorting through them looking for electronics. "Should we separate them now?" Boone asked as he found a cell phone and detached the battery off the back.

"Let's collect them all first." Riley suggested. "Hey, maybe it's worth turning them on first? Maybe we can call someone?"

"Way ahead of ya." Boone answered as he held the phone up to the sky to get a signal. It didn't take long before he gave up. "Nothing." He set the phone aside.

They worked for about an hour or so and in that time the sky went from a beautiful blue to a threatening navy colour. Rain was definitely on the way. Again.

"Riley?" Claire called to her as she came over with some cell phones in her arms. "I found these for you."

"Oh, thanks." Riley took them out of Claire's hands and handed them over to Boone. "What are those?" She noticed some papers under Claire's arm.

"Oh," Claire held them out for Riley to see. "I found them in some bags. Passports and photos and stuff. I thought they might help us find out who...who died. And for when we get recued; something to give their families back home."

"That's a good idea." Riley told her. "Yesterday when we were gathering bags; I found a whole bunch. I'll show you." She turned to Boone. "I'll be right back, ok?" He smiled and nodded as Claire and Riley headed back down the beach.

Riley found the passports and ID's she'd kept aside and helped Claire move them back to her airplane chair where she had started organizing stacks of papers and personal belongings that she'd found. "Wow..." Riley was impressed. "Haven't found anything with my name on it, have you?"

"Not yet," Claire lowered herself back into her chair. "But I'll keep an eye out."

"That's a weird saying..." Riley muttered as she knelt down on her haunches to sift through the papers. "So...is your husband or boyfriend here?" She asked Claire casually. "I mean, was he on the plane?"

"No, no, I'm not married." Claire told her instinctively rubbing her belly. "He, ah...he left me. After he convinced me we should raise this baby together; he left me."

Riley nodded. "Asshole." She said in affirmation.

"Hey, ah, Claire?" Charlie's voice said from behind Riley. She turned and saw him carrying a handful of passports.

"Hi." Claire smiled at him.

"I found these." He knelt down to her. "Figured you could use 'em."

"I'll see you guys later, ok?" Riley said to the both of them as she noticed Boone struggling with a huge, silver, rectangular case. "You're so weak." She smirked at him as he tried to lift it.

"Oh yeah?" Boone replied with a crooked grin. "You give it a go then."

"Ok..." Riley planted her feet deep in the sand and clasped her hands around the side of the case and heaved it up. She barely got it above her ankles before she had to drop it. "Crap." She muttered as Boone laughed.

"Oh, yeah, you're so strong." He teased her.

"Shut up." Riley tried to sneer but found herself giggling.

"Excuse me!" A voice called out behind them.

Riley turned to see a bald man she didn't know coming towards them. "Yeah?"

"That's mine." He pointed down to the case. "I'm John Locke. You're Riley and Boone, right?"

Boone nodded. "What's in there?" he asked. "It's heavy."

"Knives." Locke answered with a wry grin. He unhooked the locks and opened the silver case to confirm what he'd said. A dozen or so sharp hunting knives gleamed at them from the inside.

Boone and Riley shared a nervous glanced. "Knives?" he repeated.

"Might come in handy," Locke said as he shut the case and lifted up with relative ease. "You never know. Thank you."

"Ok, so...he's a little...odd." Riley said to Boone who nodded in agreement.

There was a sudden loud, clap of thunder boomed and the heavens opened and rain started to pour.

"Crap!" Boone swore out loud as he became drenched again. "Let's get under cover." He seized Riley's hand and started to pull her towards the fuselage shelter.

"No, no, wait!" Riley pulled him back by his forearm. "If this stuff get's drenched it'll be useless for the transceiver!" She had to yell to be heard over the increasingly wild wind. "We have to cover it up!" She hurried over to the pile of bags they'd been sorting through and began tossing them over the cell phones and batteries they'd found to keep them dry.

Riley was saturated when they'd covered everything up. "Let's go!" She grinned at Boone as they hurried away from their workspace and headed for the fuselage.

The rain was pouring so hard Riley could barely see her feet and somewhere along the run to the fuselage, Boone tripped on a partially covered piece of plane wreckage behind her and stumbled down. Laughing, Riley turned back to pull him up and saw that he, too, was in hysterics. They were closer to one of the tarpaulin covered pieces of wreckage than the fuselage so Riley directed them there. Steeped in rainwater and panting from the exertion of both running and laughing, Riley and Boone made it undercover where a handful of their fellow survivors were sheltering from the downpour.

"Are you ok?" Boone asked her through chuckles still clasping her hand firmly in his own.

"Yeah," She said as she caught her breath. "Fine." She realized she was standing closer to him than she ever had before and she got a shiver that had nothing to do with the rain. "Great, actually." She added quietly as the rain slowed to a mere trickle.

A horrible moan of pain from nearby interrupted their moment.

"Was that that shrapnel guy?" Riley asked looking over to where Jack had set up the poor man.

"Yeah, I think so." Boone nodded.

"Boone!" Shannon's shrill voice cried as she came stalking out from behind the fuselage and over to them.

"What's wrong?" Boone let go of Riley's hand and headed over to his sister who was stamping her foot about something or other.

Sighing, Riley joined the other survivors who were emerging from wherever they had taken cover and spotted Charlie helping Claire with the passports and papers she'd been collecting. Charlie had had the foresight to chuck a tarp over everything to stop it getting ruined in the rain so the three of them continued separating documents until the early evening.

That night was horrible. Not only did Boone stick himself to Shannon's side but the man with the shrapnel wound continued to get worse and his moans were very audible. From the way Jack was pacing and looking very distressed, Riley assumed there wasn't much they could do to help him unless rescue arrived immediately. And if the vast seascape before them was anything to go by; that wouldn't be at least until the next day.

In case it rained again, Charlie, Claire and Riley created a little nook for themselves up near where Riley and Boone had been sorting electronics. They took the tarp Charlie had used to cover the passports and strung it up between the door of the emergency exit off the plane and the oak tree. Hurley even helped them move Claire's airplane chair so she could sit up there. Charlie ate dinner with the girls but then headed away looking kind of jittery saying he'd see them in the morning.

Claire blamed her pregnancy for being able to sleep so quickly, Riley on the other hand was stuck up all night listening to that poor man moan and thinking about Boone. She was wondering why he acted the way he did around his sister; the second she said his name he dropped everything else and went to help her. It was like she had a hold over him. Riley likened it to a mediocre-at-best movie where the geeky boy was in love with the popular girl was at her beckon call. But she doubted that was Boone and Shannon's relationship. For one, Boone wasn't at all the image of a geek and two; no way was he in love with his sister.

Riley finally nodded off and fell into a very heavy sleep.

The next morning brought the news that the man with the shrapnel wound had died during the night. Riley spotted Jack moving the body and Kate confirmed that he'd passed away. Riley wasn't sure why it affected her; they'd lost the bulk of their passengers in the plane wreck. Perhaps because he was the first person to die since the crash? He was a survivor first; now he was a casualty. A fate none of them wished for.

Riley sat herself in the sand and looked out towards the ocean. She hadn't see Boone this morning as of yet but she saw him now handing his sister a pair of sunglasses. She glanced back out towards the ocean and saw Claire near the water's edge rubbing her tummy and mumbling something to her baby with a smile on her face. Just behind her was Charlie writing something on some tape he'd stuck around each of the fingers of his left hand.

"You are gonna love me." A now familiar voice called to her.

Riley looked up from her beach gazing and saw Boone heading toward her holding a cup that she recognized as the ones the flight attendants had been handing tea out in up in the air. "Sorry?" She asked.

Boone knelt before her and handed her the mug. "Here."

Curious, Riley took the mug and immediately smelt that glorious, caffeine scent she loved so much. "Coffee? Oh my God; I do love you!" She squealed with delight taking in a deep breath of that much cherished aroma. "But how did you get it?"

"I found my bag." He said as he sat himself in the sand beside her. "And I always steal the complimentary stuff in hotel rooms. Pieces of the plane are still burning around; heated up some bottled Oceanic water," He made a show of holding his water bottle up to her; ala the Calvin Klein model he resembled so well. "And voila; coffee."

"You?" Riley smirked. "A man who owns his own business steals complimentary instant coffee sachets?"

"And sugar." Boone smiled back. "I figure they want me to take 'em."

"Yeah, I steal them, too." Riley admitted with a smirk. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Boone replied with a warm grin.


	5. Chapter 5: Walk With Me

**Chapter Five: Walk With Me**

Riley spent the bulk of her day with Boone clearing out the tent where the Marshall had been kept. Jack had taken the responsibility of burying the body and no one was really that eager to go into the tent since a man had just died in there. So Boone had suggested if they cleared it out; at least it would make a good shelter for their electronic collection. They spent the evening transferring everything they'd found under the shelter and figuring out what was useful and what wasn't. Half the items they'd found had been damaged in the water or shattered in the crash but they did find a few intact cell phone batteries and a couple of pagers.

"I wonder if my laptop will turn up..." Riley muttered to herself as she cleaned some sand out of another cell phone.

"Sorry?" Boone asked her as he, too, cleared sand out of a portable CD player he'd found.

"My laptop," She repeated. "It was in the overhead compartment above my seat but by the time I thought to go back to look for it after the crash, it wasn't there."

"Might turn up..." Boone said, albeit sceptically. Chances were it was rusting at the bottom of the ocean with the rest of the missing luggage.

"Yes, stay positive," Riley replied sarcastically as she'd heard the lacklustre tone in his voice. "Thank you." Boone chuckled at her.

By the time they went to sleep that night, Riley was exhausted. She curled up on her Oceanic Airlines blanket near Claire, who had spent the day organizing more passports and the like, and slept peacefully under the clear, night sky.

It was only a few hours later that Riley was awakened with the bulk of the other survivors by a suspicious grunting noise coming from inside the fuselage. Bleary eyed, Riley got to her feet and wandered towards Claire who was grouped with a bunch of the survivors nearby the plane wreck. Jack was using his penlight to try and see inside and Kate was close behind him. Boone and Shannon were standing just behind them with Michael and his son was grasping his dog's leash tightly as Vincent barked ferociously at the fuselage.

Riley brushed some sand off her arm as she joined Claire. "Is someone in there?" She asked her new friend as she glanced around the gathering survivors.

"_Something's_ in there..." Claire replied vaguely.

"Everyone in there's dead." Sayid spoke up as he and Charlie stepped up beside Claire and Riley.

Riley watched as Sawyer, Jack and Kate inspected the fuselage further. Sawyer clicked on a large torch and shone it inside.

"Run!" Jack suddenly yelled. "RUN!"

Riley wasn't even sure of what she was running from, she just turned and bolted. There was more grunting behind her, similar to a bull, as well as quickening hoof steps. Riley scooted behind a piece of wreckage, it looked like a door, and ducked down before she dared to turn and look at what she was hiding from. She managed to see the shadows of three, hairy creatures disappearing into the jungle.

"They're gone." Sayid called a moment to everyone who was hiding.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Charlie asked as he came out from behind a stack of bags.

Locke, the creepy man Riley remembered running into the day before with all the knives, answered him. "Boar." He said with a smirk.

No one really went back to sleep after that. Riley sat with Claire until the sun came up. It was an overcast and windy day so in case of rain, the pair of them sat underneath their trap covered area and looked over all of the personal papers they had found. Since the boar attack; Jack had decided that it was probably best that they burn the fuselage that night to ward of disease as well as other animals. He had had quite a few protests, especially from Sayid who was concerned about each person's personal beliefs. A Muslim man is supposed to be buried, he'd said. How did they know what the wishes of each body were? Jack maintained that, though it wasn't a favourable decision, they didn't need to attract anymore attention from boars or whatever was making that hideous noise in the jungle. Plus, though he never said it aloud, they all knew that by burning the fuselage that night; there would be a better chance of someone seeing it.

"It doesn't seem right." Claire spoke up after they'd been silently sifting for a few minutes.

"What doesn't?" Riley asked looking up from the book she'd found.

"All these people died," Claire gestured to the pile of passports that didn't belong to any of their fellow living survivors. "We should do something. A memorial service, maybe. I mean, we have their names and photos and stuff..." She shrugged.

Riley nodded. "I'd like someone to read of _my_ name if I was in there." She glanced over at the fuselage. Then, in the distance, she spotted someone else. Rose; the woman she'd met on the day of the crash, was sitting alone further up the beach looking out towards the ocean. "I hope she's ok..." Riley said aloud.

"Who?" Claire asked, following Riley's gaze.

"Rose." Riley answered, giving her a quick rundown of their meeting a couple of days before.

"Well, looks like you're not the only one who's worried." Claire said as she pointed towards the shoreline where Boone was also looking at Rose. "He seems nice." She added; casting a sideways glance at Riley to sense her reaction.

"Yeah; he's nice." Riley agreed in a distant tone, hurriedly busying herself with another stack of papers.

Across the beach, Boone sank to his knees beside his step-sister who was flicking through a fashion magazine. "That woman's still sitting there." He nodded his head towards Rose.

Shannon replied with a barely audible grunt and didn't look up from her magazine.

"Her husband was on the plane," Boone continued; Shannon didn't even bother grunting this time. "Are you listening to me?"

"What's a four letter word for I don't care?" She replied, licking her forefinger and loudly flipping the page of her magazine.

Boone shrugged. "I just think somebody should go talk to her."

"I nominate you, Captain America." She sneered at him. "Great way to impress that girl you haven't stopped ogling since we crashed." She went back to her magazine.

"Riley?" Boone looked up the beach and saw her laughing with Claire and pulling her golden-brown hair back into a ponytail.

"You just can't help yourself, can you?" Shannon spoke up in an icy tone. "We've been here, like, three days and you're already following her around like a puppy."

"Yeah, well," Boone muttered uncomfortably."At least you don't have to worry about starving with me taking care of you." He stood upright and smacked the sand off the back of his jeans.

"I'm not going to starve." Shannon assured him.

"Right, what are you going to eat?" Boone folded his arms tightly across his chest.

"The ocean's full of fish." She pointed out with a pompous smile playing at her luscious lips.

"I hate to break it to you," He smirked. "But the ocean is not going to take your gold card."

"You really don't think I can catch a fish?" Shannon seemed highly offended by this.

Boone just shrugged and walked away; ignoring her irritated hollers that she'd show him how wrong he was. He went back to the main wreckage on the beach; the smell was starting to become more obvious but there were still bags that needed to be retrieved so Boone set himself the task of getting as many as he could out of the way before they set fire to the whole wretched thing. Pulling his t-shirt up over his nose to hinder the stench of decay, he started finding and clearing out luggage. His anger towards Shannon came through in the hefty way he handled what he got his hands on. He quietly insulted her every time he tossed a bag out of the wreck. She was so self-absorbed; more than capable of taking care of herself but refusing to do so. She much preferred using other people to get what she wanted; it was exactly what she had done with him to get him to fly all the way to Sydney. _And look how we ended up_, he said to himself. _Stranded on an island in the middle of friggin' nowhere. _Plus; she was so clingy when it came to him; she wasn't shy about showing her disdain for his burgeoning friendship with Riley. What was it to her? They were brother and sister, it wasn't like they'd become a couple, no matter what had happened in Sydney. Every positive thought Boone had for Shannon was doused with a negative one. How could he love someone who treated him like dirt?

By late afternoon, Riley and Claire, along with some other willing survivors, had made great progress in their mission to find some sort of information on everyone who had died. They had found passports or wallets for almost all of the deceased as well as a number of photos and other identification. Claire didn't really have a plan for the memorial; she just thought she'd read off names as the fuselage burned away. At the wreckage, the capable survivors were starting to light torches and place flammable items within the plane so it would be ready to burn by sundown.

Whilst updating their list to include Judith Martha Wexler, a Texan whose passport had luckily been only partially water damaged, Riley saw Charlie coming from the East of the shore carrying a fish and presenting it to non-other than Shannon. She looked extremely pleased; and Charlie seemed happy to be the reason for her excitement. Riley silently wondered what was going on between them, but didn't like wasting her brain space on people like Shannon. Turning her suspicious eyes away from the pair, Riley went back to sorting papers. She'd found about a hundred notebook papers over the last day or so that appeared to have been written by the same person as whoever wrote them had used a purple pen. Riley wasn't sure what they were; they seemed to be random notes with words such as _Pteridophyta_ and _Filicophyta_ as well as sketches of leaves and trees which made her think this person was some sort of horticulturist. Riley scanned her eyes around the camp; she hadn't overheard anyone asking for anything like this so she felt pretty certain that the author had died in the crash. Her heart sank; she was the only one on the plane who knew about this horticulturist. It made Riley more determined to help Claire with her memorial; it was definitely the right thing to do.

"Oh, hey, check this out." Claire was reading the inside of a passport. "It's Boone's."

Riley set the notebook papers down and grabbed for the passport, hoping her eagerness went unnoticed by Claire, and inspected it. She wasn't sure what she thought she'd see, but for some reason she was grateful to find it. Boone Carlyle was born in October 1981, which made him a year older than Riley, in Malibu, California. He had quite a few international stamps decorating the pages but Riley had already assumed, with his money, that he was very well-travelled.

"What do you s'pose that's all about?" Claire nodded her head down the beach.

Riley followed her friend's gaze and saw that instead of smiling proudly, Charlie now wore a discomfited expression as he stood awkwardly between Boone and Shannon who were, once again, squabbling.

"What are you apologizing to him for?" Shannon's raised voice caught Riley's ear.

"For you!" Boone snapped. "For using him; using this poor guy like you use everyone else."

"Oh, whatever." Shannon rolled her eyes and walked away without a second glance at Charlie.

"Somewhere in that twisted little brain," He snarled as he trailed behind her. "You think this proves that you can take care of yourself."

"I told you I'd catch a fish, didn't I?" Shannon bellowed back.

Riley pocketed Boone's passport and sprang to her feet. "I'll be back."

"But we're gonna start the memorial in a few minutes..." Claire reminded her.

"I'll be right back," She assured Claire. "Don't start without me." She smiled at Claire before she headed towards the domestic sibling bickering.

"Oh, go rescue a baby bird or something." Shannon sniped as she brushed past Boone with her fish in hand and stomped back down the beach.

"Boone?" Riley spoke up as she arrived behind him.

His brow was still crinkled in anger towards his sister, but he tried to let it go as he turned around. "Hey," He smiled at Riley, determined not to let his anger at Shannon come through his voice. "What's up?"

"I have a present for you." She held out his passport.

"Oh, great!" He was genuinely pleased to have something to his name again; most of his belongings were yet to be discovered. "Thanks. Was it in my bag?"

"Ah, no," Riley answered, suddenly feeling sheepish. It was just a passport; she had collected a whole bunch from the luggage in the days before by just searching them and tossing them aside if she found identification. She'd had her hands in Boone's bag at some point and hadn't even realized; it would have been a much more impressive gift if she had. "Sorry."

"No, it's good," Boone assured her with a warm smile. "Means my bag's around here somewhere." He was also grateful for that knowledge because he had Shannon's inhalers in it; the latent asthmatic didn't like people knowing she was ill and rarely carried her own medication. "Thanks."

Riley flicked her eyes towards the ocean; she wasn't big on gazing into someone's eyes and she worried that had been what she was doing. Boone's eyes sparkled of their own accord; even more so when he smiled so Riley had desperately wanted to look away. For some reason, Claire's words rang in her memory at that moment. _He's a nice guy_. She was right; he was. Riley was vocally cynical and had compartmentalized Boone and Shannon into two stereotypes. Shannon; the prissy, self-absorbed bimbo who had no care for anyone but herself. And Boone; the sexy hero who would break her heart and then move on. Giving in, Riley moved her eyes back up to his; she knew she'd judged him all wrong. "Um, the, ah...the memorial's going to start soon," Riley said to break the silence. "You wanna walk with me?" She hoped she didn't come off too keen.

Boone grinned. When he was with Riley, all his issues with his sister disappeared. He didn't answer to Shannon, he didn't obey her degrading orders; he was just himself. Or a part of himself that he wished would make itself more obvious. He'd been running a business and taking care of his sister for so many years now; he'd forgotten about the simpler things in life. Laughter, flirting, fun; all of which he found in the woman who stood before him. "Love to." He accepted.

Together; they headed for the freshly lit fuselage, a flaming effigy to honour all that had died within it. They stood by Claire's side as she took charge and read out the names of all they had lost. Riley glanced around their camp and saw Charlie looked longingly at Claire, Kate's gaze diverted as she looked further down the beach where Jack was staring out into the ocean, Sayid, stoic as ever, stealing quick glances at Shannon who was perched on a plane seat with a pink shawl draped over her shoulders. Riley caught sight of Boone's sparkling, blue eyes in the firelight and the pair shared a small smile. It was true that so many souls had been lost in this crash; but it was also true that other souls had found each other.

**xxx**


	6. Chapter 6: A Hero Again

****

Chapter Six: A Hero Again

Riley awoke very early the morning after the memorial; she just beat the sunrise. Claire was still snoozing beside her but Boone had taken off during the night. After the memorial; he had come back to Claire and Riley's little nook and the pair of them had talked well into the night. They'd fallen asleep beside each other with a fair amount of space between them; but Riley was sure she'd felt Boone's fingers graze across her own at some point. Though she reasoned it may have been a dream; lately Boone had frequented her slumbering hallucinations.

Getting to her feet, Riley wandered towards the water's edge; she noticed that Boone was sleeping beside his step-sister. A pang of annoyance ran up Riley's spine; she really didn't like the way Boone fawned over Shannon. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself; but she seemed to prefer manipulating the men around her into doing what she wanted instead.

Towards the edge of camp; Riley discovered the pile of clothes that someone had started sorting. Thinking her jeans could do with a wash anyway, she dug around until she found a pair of cotton shorts and a singlet. Within a minute; she had stripped out of her dirty clothes and into the clean ones. Then she headed back down to the water and washed the dirt out of her outfit before hanging it up to dry over a piece of shrapnel from the plane that was sticking out of the sand. The sun had half-risen in the sky, but the water was still quite warm considering the time of day.

Unable to resist, Riley stepped tentatively into the open ocean. The water hugged her knees like a cool blanket; welcoming her into the soft ripples. She had always loved the beach but it was one of those places she had always found difficult to find the time to visit. As she waded waist deep into the water; childhood memories flooded back to her. Memories like sprinting across the hot sand with her little sister, Maggie, as they raced to get to the water first, having water fights and sandcastle building contests. They were a competitive pair of sisters; but also very close. Suddenly; Riley was desperate to have Maggie with her; although she wasn't happy at the thought of her sister having to endure a plane crash. She wondered if there was a news report out on the flight by now. Maybe it was one of those twenty-four hour news coverage events where everyone is presumed dead. Knowing that she was very much alive; this prospect made Riley very uncomfortable.

Not wanting to dwell on what might be happening in the real world; Riley dove under the surface of the ocean and breaststroked her way out into deeper water. When she was out far enough; she floated on her back and just let her hands move gently around her. The sky was so beautiful from this angle; all she could see was the clear, blue heavens as the sun warmed her from above. She could see the peaks of the highest mountains of the island with faint, fluffy clouds hugging the crests.

"Help!" A frantic voice suddenly erupted into Riley's ears. "Help me!"

Riley kicked her legs back underneath her and stared out into the much deeper ocean. She saw a woman; a face she recognized from the beach although she couldn't think of her name. "Hey!" Riley hollered at her and waved to let her know she had seen her.

"Help me!" The woman called again.

Riley sliced her hands through the water as she carved a path towards the woman. When she paused to catch her breath; she scoped the horizon. The woman was nowhere to be seen. Riley turned as fast as she could; her legs were starting to ache. "Hey!" She cried out.

"Heeeelp!!" The woman's faint voice called.

Riley snapped her neck sharply to the left; she saw the woman's arms flailing miles away from where Riley had first spotted her. She had been caught in a current and it was taking her out to sea. Riley didn't know what to do; if she went after her she risked getting caught herself. But if she turned back; the woman would surely die._ Maybe I could try flagging someone else down_, Riley thought to herself turning back towards the beach.

Suddenly; the shore seemed much further away than Riley had estimated. Her legs, kicking freely beneath her at the vast expanse of water, started to shake as it dawned on her just how deep she was. She couldn't even hear the woman anymore and was now worried that she didn't have enough energy to get herself back to the beach; let alone to alert someone about the woman in danger. Riley dug her arms through the water trying to carve a path back to land; but every time she looked up to see how far away she was; it was like she hadn't moved at all. Then she realized that not only was she far away, she was being drawn away from the island altogether by a strong rip tugging at her beneath the surface.

"Help!" Riley cried, but then her mouth filled with water as a strong waved washed over her head. Kicking her legs hard; she pushed herself up out of the water and yelled as loud as she could "Help me!" She waved her arms up in the air; remembering only the bare minimum of the training she'd received at school about what to do if you got caught in a rip. She remembered her teachers hammering home the point not to struggle, but she was being dragged further away from the island out to sea; if she didn't fight she'd be out of sight within a few minutes. Propelling herself out of the water again, Riley hollered towards the beach. "Help me!" She could see there was an expanding bunch of people gathering beside the ocean pointing in her direction; but she couldn't make out their faces. The waves became stronger and swished the water into her mouth so she couldn't scream without swallowing it. One of the other things she'd learned from her lessons was how drinking salt water was dangerous not only because it made you thirstier, but it also made you hallucinate.

Riley's arms ached as she continued to wave them above her head which was constantly being doused by the waves swelling around her. Her calf muscles stung as she continued to jerk them back and forth to keep herself afloat, but she knew she had to try to yell again so she propelled herself up and opened her mouth, taking in as large as breath as she could muster to vocalize as loud as she could, but before she could even yell a rush of water crashed over her head and filled her mouth. The salt water shot down her throat so fast Riley started to gag. Every time she tried to suck in a breath she just inhaled more water. Her arm muscles were burning as she tried desperately to keep them moving, but she felt like she was trying to swim through glue. The water was so cold it was numbing her skin and searing her eyes. Her heavy legs were stiff and refused to keep kicking as much as Riley's mind willed them to. _Christ_, she thought, _is this is? The end? Aren't I meant to feel calm? See a light? Or my loved ones? Why am I being yanked around..._

"Commm nnn!"

The sound of an urgent, muffled voice penetrated Riley's eardrums. She felt something hook around her middle and pull her up. A moment later her lungs were filled with a full, deep breath. She sucked oxygen down into her lungs in loud, spluttering gasps.

"Riley!" The voice snapped at her. "Open your eyes!"

The water still sloshed around her shoulders but whoever had a grasp on her was keeping her above the surface. Her eyelids were so heavy but she forced them open. The glaring sun blinded her but she managed to see the frantic eyes of Boone staring down at her. "Boone..." She mumbled his name. Then a large waved crashed over their heads and Riley blacked out.

"Riley!"

She heard someone calling her name and a heavy weight rhythmically pumping on her chest. Her throat felt blocked; as if something was caught in it. All of a sudden her insides lurched and she desperately wanted to vomit. So she did; jerking upwards, Riley expelled the contents of her stomach out of her body. As she spluttered and gasped for air; she was happy to realize that it was water; sea water. Her mind cleared as she heard the voice that had called her name begging her to open her eyes. They were still heavy and stinging from the salty water but she managed to open them and again saw Boone's eyes staring down at her. Riley's head was spinning and swaying back and forth in time with the waves; though she was lying on something hard. The beach, she soon realized. Boone had carried her to the beach; she'd blacked out the whole trip.

"You're ok," Boone was saying; holding her head encased between his strong hands. "Just breathe slow; ok?"

"Dude, get her some water!" Riley recognized Hurley's voice immediately.

"Is she ok?" Claire's worried voice spoke next. "Will she be alright?"

"Yeah; I think so." Boone replied, though he never took his eyes off Riley. He smoothed her sodden hair back off her face and lifted her up into his lap so she wasn't flat on the ground.

"I'm 'kay." Riley managed to croak; her throat felt like it was on fire. "Did...did you get h-her?" She asked Boone.

"Who?"

"The woman; there was a woman out there." Riley tried to sit up but all of her limbs were like jelly; she just fell right back into Boone's lap. "I was trying to g-get to h-her." From where she was laying, Riley could see Boone's eyes dart out towards the ocean. Having said all she could muster; Riley's head lolled to the side as another wave of exhaustion swept over her.

"Oh my God; I can see her!" Claire cried holding her hands up to her eyes to shield the sun from her view.

"So can I." Boone shoved Riley into Claire's arms and got to his feet. "Take care of her." He ordered before bolting back into the surf.

"Boone; wait!" Hurley called after him.

"What's going on?" Charlie asked as he came over and knelt beside Claire. "Is she alright?" He nodded at Riley who was dozing against Claire's shoulder.

"She almost drowned," Claire told him. "Boone saved her and now he's gone back out there to save that other woman." She pointed to where the tired waves of the still struggling woman were diminishing far out to sea. "Get Jack!"

"On it." Charlie sprang back to his feet and hurtled back down the beach hollering Jack's name as loud as he could.

"She needs to get out of the sun," Claire bit her lip and looked down at Riley. "She looks like hell."

"Here; I'll take her." Hurley reached down, heaved Riley up into his large, strong arms and carried her to her tent she shared with Claire. He laid her down in one of the plane chairs and reclined it so she was on an angle. He then grabbed one of the Oceanic water bottles and held it to Riley's chapped lips. "Come on, dude, you gotta drink."

"I'll do it." Claire offered, sitting in the plane seat beside Riley and taking the bottle from Hurley. She poured small amounts of liquid into the lid of the bottle and pressed them to her friend's mouth as well as tracing her lips with it so they wouldn't dry out. "You'll be alright." She repeated in a soothing voice. "You'll be alright."

**xxx**


	7. Chapter 7: My Purpose

**Chapter Seven: My Purpose**

Boone stared out at the harsh, cutting waves of the ocean from his secluded spot on the beach and watched them smash against the shore. Her name was Joanna. The woman he hadn't been able to save; her name had been Joanna. He hadn't known there was anyone else out there when he dove into the water the first time.

Frantic, wailing screams had woken him from a peaceful sleep and then Claire told him Riley was missing. He knew it was her drowning out there and, on lifeguard instinct, he dove right in after her. He hadn't had to rescue anyone since he had taken over his mother's business in New York, but it all came flooding back to him when he'd hit the water. Granted; the waves here were bigger and stronger than the ones he was used to. Maybe that was why he hadn't been able to save Joanna.

_But I saved Riley_, Boone reminded himself. He could still feel her limp body in his arms, the stillness of her chest as he laid his ear against her heart, and then the elation when she expelled all of that sea water from her stomach. His happiness at saving her was soured by the death of Joanna. If he had been stronger; he would have been able to save her. If Jack had just let him go; maybe he would have been able to get to her in time.

"Boone?" Claire, cumbersome as always, stumbled over to him. "Riley's waking up."

"Good." Boone gave her a strained smile. "I'm glad she's ok."

"Thanks to you," Claire reminded him. "I'm sure she'd like to see you."

"Maybe later." Boone replied curtly; he didn't mean to sound rude but it came out that way. Without another word, Claire left him be.

Back at her shared tent with Claire, Riley was smiling a welcome to Kate who was coming her way with armfuls of clothes. "Hey," Kate grinned and laid down two overflowing suitcases at Riley's bare feet. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah; much." Riley smiled tiredly back. "What's all this?"

"I was thinking I'd help sort clothes," Kate said. "Y'know, practical, impractical and stuff. You wanna help?"

Grateful for the task, Riley nodded. "Totally." She eagerly agreed and pulled herself into a sitting position. Claire came back over a few moments later and joined them; she seemed troubled by something but she didn't divulge it to Riley or Kate so neither of them pushed it.

Every now and again in the comfortable silences between the girls, Riley would scan the beach looking for Boone. She spotted him once trying to look inconspicuous as he heaved a suitcase into the jungle. It wasn't until that evening when Claire had suddenly taken very ill with dehydration that Riley discovered he had been lugging what was left of the water supply to a hidden cache he'd made in the jungle. He'd almost been crucified by the beach camp, earning a nice shiner thanks to a hefty punch from Charlie, until Jack had intervened; revealing he'd found some caves not too far from where they were with fresh water and shelter. Riley was stealing worried glances at Boone who seemed very on edge so she only caught the gist of what Jack was saying; but the focus of it seemed to be that he intended to split up the survivors. He'd take some of them to the caves; and the rest would stay behind. Some people were eager for the change, others, like Riley, weren't too keen on leaving the beach so soon after the crash. Surely someone would come soon.

After the drama of the evening had settled down and the survivors turned in for the night, Riley went in search of Boone if not just to thank him for rescuing her. At first she thought she must have gone too far down the beach because she could barely see the fire pits anymore, but then, in the glint of the moonlight, she saw Boone's white shirt stained in dirt as he sat staring contemplatively out at the ocean.

"What were you doing out there?" Boone asked, averting her eyes.

"I just...I wanted to go for a swim and it was only when I got out there that I heard Joanna calling." She sat down in the sand beside him, noticing the purpling bruise on his face was accompanied with a scratch; most likely from Charlie's unique DS ring. "I started to go after her but the riptide kept dragging her out to sea. I guess I got caught up in it, too." She gave him a sheepish, lopsided grin. "Why are you all the way out here anyway?" Riley asked, noting that she couldn't even hear the sounds of the beach camp from this far up the coast.

"I'm not exactly everyone's favourite person right now." Boone grumbled, tossing a pebble at a piece of driftwood sticking up out of the sand. "'Cos of the water thing...they all hate me."

"I don't." Riley assured him; happy to see him take his eyes off the ocean and meet with hers. "It's, ah, kinda hard to stay mad at the guy who saved your life."

Boone smirked. "Couldn't let you die, Riley." He said softly.

"I'm very glad that you couldn't." She replied; nudging him in the shoulder.

Boone returned the grin, letting his blue eyes linger in hers for just a moment. _Ocean blue eyes..._he thought. "That looks nasty, huh?" Boone cleared his throat nodded his head up at the purplish blue clouds forming in the sky.

"Cumulonimbus clouds," Riley replied without thinking as she poked at the sand with a thin stick. "They grow vertically instead of horizontally which gives them that mushroom shape. Means rain and wind is coming. Pretty rotten rain and wind, actually. But it shouldn't last long; half hour or so." She tossed the stick aside and brushed some sand granules off her arm. It was then she noticed Boone was staring at her with a sly half-grin on his face. "What?" she asked.

"Columbus clouds?" He asked with high eyebrows.

"_Cumulonimbus_ clouds," She corrected him as a wave of embarrassment washed over here; she hadn't meant to divulge so much, but talking about storms tended to get her off in her own world. Her _old_ world.

"How do you know all that?" He asked; genuinely intrigued. "I thought you were an IT-tech slash bartender."

"I am."

"Then how...?" Boone prodded her.

Riley shook her head and let her hair fall into her eyes. "You'll laugh at me."

"No I won't; promise. If I do; you can punch me."

Riley sighed, but was unable not to smile. He had a strange effect on her this way. He was asking her about one of her most tightly kept secrets; the one that would open up all those old wounds she had tried desperately to bury over the past few years; but she just couldn't lie to him. "Ok," She said slowly, determined to look at him intently to gauge his reaction. "Before I studied IT...I was a storm chaser."

Boone raised his eyebrows in reply, so Riley punched him heavily in the arm.

"Ow!" He complained as he stifled a chuckle. "I didn't laugh!"

"Please; you made a face." Riley pointed out. "It's the same thing."

"Sorry...I just..." He seemed to struggle for the right words. "Storm chaser? I didn't think people really did that."

"Yeah, well, I did." She let that sentence hang there, and Boone didn't push it. Truth was, that she used to love chasing storms with her father. Her mother always said it was in her blood...

**xxx**

_Three Years Ago_

"Happy eighteenth to me," Riley said to herself as she bolted out of her bedroom with her shoulder bag slapping the back of her thighs. "And many more."

"Riley, please can I come with you?" Maggie begged as she trailed after her older sister down the staircase.

"No, Mags, not this year." Riley reminded her for the millionth time. Her sister wanted to be just like her; to the point where she copied everything from her clothes to her hairstyle to how she laughed. It was sweet; really, but when it came to work she just wasn't able to join in.

"You're barely four years older than me." Maggie pouted.

"So, there you go." Riley rubbed her sister's shoulders. "I know better."

"You suck." Maggie stuck her tongue out. "Bring me back something good."

"Always do." She messed up her sister's hair and made her way through the kitchen. "Bye, Ma," She kissed her mother on the cheek not waiting for a hug since her hands were buried in a sink of dirty dishes.

"Bye, love," Alice called after her daughter. "Tell your father to be careful."

"He always is."

"And don't get distracted." Her mother warned her.

Riley sighed. "I won't, mother."

"Riley!" A voice called at her from the front yard. "Let's move it!"

"Coming!" She waved to her mother and sister and sprinted out the door. Her father, Joel, and boyfriend, Billy were waiting by her dad's dark blue panel van.

"We got some good looking skies today," Joel grinned at his daughter, chucking her the keys. "Wanna drive?"

Riley held the keys in disbelief. "You're letting me drive _your_ car?"

"Not every day a girl turns eighteen." He climbed into the passenger's seat. "Billy; climb in back."

"Yes, sir," Billy briefly kissed Riley's cheek as he climbed into the back of the van. It was hard to believe it had only been a year since he'd started working for Joel; and he and Riley had been inseparable ever since. "Storms brewing over the East coast; we got about an hour to get down there."

"Easy," Riley got behind the wheel and roared the engine to life. "I'll get us there in no time.

It only took Riley forty-five minutes to get to the coast; she knew all the back roads. Granted, she'd been travelling like this for as long as she could remember. Her mum used to tag along was well; but her pregnancy with Maggie had been difficult and she'd been quite a sick infant so after almost three years of staying home; she just lost the love of chasing. Riley figured she'd gotten into it because of her dad in the first place; he had saved her during one particularly nasty storm almost thirty years ago, that was how they met. Alice always told Riley that the 'chasing blood' ran in her veins just like her father.

They reached a cliff overlooking the ocean where a number of dark purple clouds were gathering in the distance. They didn't have long before the wind really picked up so Joel started setting up his equipment and sent Riley to photograph the changes in the clouds while Billy kept track of the wind gusts. It was freezing on the cliff, so cold Riley couldn't stop her hands from shaking long enough to take a steady photo.

"Here," Billy appeared by her side and laid his leather jacket over her shoulders. "Warm up."

"Thanks," Riley grinned at him, immediately feeling warmer. He had that effect on her. No matter how cold she was; he could warm her up. The guy was almost six foot tall and green eyed with a mess of jet black hair and was very well built; he'd been playing rugby all through high school up until he'd injured his ankle and had to give it up, that was when he dove into climatology.

"These winds are gonna be strong..." Billy muttered as he watched the waves. "I reckon up to one-fifty k's and hour...that'd knock us all on our asses."

"Not as bad as the last one," Riley pointed out as she snapped a picture. "Would you still think I was cute if I was mangled into an unrecognizable shape?"

"I always think you're cute," Billy told her as he brushed a flyaway hair from her eyes. "I think you're beautiful."

Riley rolled her eyes trying to disguise the fact that she was blushing. "Nice line." She deadpanned.

"Hey," Joel cleared his throat. "Back to work."

"Sorry." Billy and Riley chorused in unison and went back to work.

Riley cast her eyes down to the bottom of the cliff where jagged rocks were being crashed upon by heavy waves; but even in the foreboding blues of the angry ocean she saw beauty. She loved the water; might have something to do with being an Aquarius, but she truly did. There was a whole world underneath the surface that, no matter how much they searched, people would never fully discover. To Riley; that was beautiful.

**xxx**


	8. Chapter 8: Been Here Before

**Chapter Nine: Been Here Before**

_Flashback - Three Years Ago_

Riley wasn't even sure she had broken the surface of the water; it was raining so heavily it just kept towering on top of the already swollen river.

"Dad?" She coughed, spluttering water out of her mouth, unable to hear her own voice over the roar of the storm above her. "DAD!"

"RILEY!" Her father's voice responded. "Riley, to your left!"

Kicking her legs furiously to keep her head above water, Riley managed to swivel left and saw her father clinging to a tall tree, unmoved by the flood waters.

Their truck was long gone; Riley had told her father he parked too close to the bank but he didn't listen, and when the river overflowed, it swept the van, as well as Billy, Riley and her father, into the muddy, thick water. Riley was a strong swimmer, and managed to fight the current enough to get herself over to the tree with her dad in it; reaching his arms down for her in expectation.

"Are you ok?" He repeated over and over, grasping her arms up and basically forcing them to grip the tree trunk.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Riley panted, thankful to have something solid to hold onto while the storm passed. "Where's Billy?" She asked.

"Man, this water's not letting up," Joel mumbled, craning his neck to see through the tree to the sky. "Rain should slow soon; we might have to swim for the bank."

"Where does this river lead?" Riley asked, eying the water disappearing around the bend of the cove.

"I dunno, honey, I dunno," Joel shifted them back so they were closer to the tree trunk.

"Where's Billy?" Riley asked her father again; and for a second time he didn't answer her.

"Are you hurt?"

"Dad." Riley stared him right in his deep, brown eyes. "Where's Billy?"

Joel held a hand to his daughter's damp face. "I'm so sorry, Riley..."

"No."

"He was in the truck."

"No, no!"

"It washed down river..."

"NO!" Riley screamed and threw her arms around her father. "Oh, God!" She sobbed, weeping heavily into her father's shoulder, wishing the rain could just wash all of this away. Or better yet; wake her up from this horrible nightmare. Billy was someone she loved; he couldn't be gone. That wasn't fair...

**xxx**

_Present Day - Island_

Claire was gone. Kidnapped. Charlie, too.

No one had any idea where they were; they were just gone. But no one thought it was coincidental that they were missing along with Ethan, a man Hurley had just discovered through searching on the flight manifest, was _not_ an original 815 passenger.

Search parties were forming to find them, and Riley wanted in. She was happy to see that Boone was right at her side volunteering his help as well. Jack and Kate were in to search as well; and Locke capped off the group at five, saying too many and they would be easier to be spotted. He gave them ten minutes to gather a bag and told them to wait by the entrance to the jungle closest to the plane wreck.

Riley felt tension run through her as she went back to the tent she used to share with Claire to get her bag; the day before Claire lost a bet to Charlie that he couldn't get her peanut butter, so when he showed up with an empty jar full of 'imaginary peanut butter', she'd given in and moved to the caves. Riley hadn't stopped her; it wasn't that hard to get there to visit, she'd planned on going that evening; but Claire and Charlie had been taken before she even got to take that visit. Now, she just felt frightened. For Claire, for her baby, for Charlie... there were other people on this island, that much was clear now, and they were starting to fight back.

"You ok?" Boone arrived outside Riley's tent, water bottle in hand.

"I dunno; do I look okay?" Riley flushed and quickly packed her backpack.

"You look worried." Boone admitted. "It'll be okay, Riley. We're gonna find them."

Riley just nodded, shrugging her bag onto her shoulders and stepping back out into the sun beside him. "You sound more confident than I do."

His kiss came as such a surprise, Riley almost shoved him off. His lips pushed against hers gently as his hand grazed her cheek, making her shiver and tingle inside. Regaining her senses after a moment, Riley kissed him back, slipping her bottom lip between both of his as she breathed in deeply, exhaling as they pulled apart.

"How do you feel now?" Boone asked with a cheeky smile.

Riley let herself smile with him. "Better." She admitted."

"Come on," He nodded up ahead to where Locke was waiting. "Let's get moving." He started off through the sand.

Her smile vanishing as she suddenly remembered where she was going, what she was doing, who she was looking for... pushing the kiss from her mind; Riley traipsed forwards to the jungle to begin searching for her friends.

**xxx**

_Flashback – 3 years ago_

The police found Joel's truck the day after the storm. Billy's body was inside it.

Riley hadn't held out much hope that he had survived, but the small, innocent part of her heart that loved that boy believed that maybe there was a chance, however miniscule, that he got out of the truck and just wound up on the other side of the river, unable to cross back over.

His funeral was held three days later. His parents, Carmen and Lionel, were in a state of shock. Their sons' love of climatology had been mostly of his own accord; they were not into the storm chaser lifestyle themselves. He was their youngest of three sons, Brent and Marty, his older siblings, were stone-faced and glass-eyed at the front of the congregation outside the local church. Riley was adamant that it be outside; Billy loved nature, he wouldn't want to have his funeral in a building.

Riley didn't say much at the funeral. She nodded and smiled when people told her how sorry they were, accepted hugs from people she didn't really know, and dutifully sat between her father and sister staring right at Billy's coffin, trying to act like it didn't bother her.

What was more disconcerting to Riley was her father's behaviour. He hadn't been the same since the accident. Every time he heard Billy's name, he would tense up, and cut the conversation. He wouldn't talk to Riley about him. He wouldn't talk to his wife, so Alice was forced to play mediator and just keep everyone from blowing up at each other.

Maggie was old enough to understand what was going on, and was deeply heartbroken for her sister. She'd liked Billy a lot; in that little sister way where she'd wished of him as her boyfriend. She spent every night in Riley's room after the accident. At first for herself, she'd almost lost her big sister, but Maggie soon realized that Riley wanted her to stay. The horror of the tragedy had somehow brought them closer.

After the funeral, Riley clung to Maggie's hand as the group of mourners waited in the graveyard for Billy's coffin to be lowered into the ground. Carmen broke down then; her husband barely able to keep her on her feet as their son's body disappeared into the dark, empty hole. Riley had tears in her eyes; they'd been there all day, but she hadn't cried them yet. She didn't know what she was waiting for; perhaps she didn't want to be another one of _those_ mourners.

It was only after Billy's coffin was out of sight, and people started forming a line to throw a handful of dirt in as a sign of respect and final farewell, that Riley realized her father wasn't nearby. "Mum," Riley whispered, tugging on her mother's crisp, black suit sleeve. "Where's Dad?"

Alice glanced quickly around the line. "He was here..." She muttered. "Stay with your sister, Maggie," Alice kissed Riley's cheek. "I'll go and find him."

Maggie took her position by Riley and grabbed her hand. She didn't have to say anything; she knew that, so they remained silent standing behind Billy's family as they all started to toss dirt into the grave. Unable to watch Carmen stagger towards her son's final resting place for the last time, Riley turned away, making like she was looking for her parents when all she wanted was to be somewhere else, but was luck would have it she spotted her parents. And with a puzzled expression, Riley realized her father was walking away from the ceremony.

The line moved up a little, and Maggie pulled her sister along so they didn't stop the queue, but Riley couldn't stop looking at her father. Her mother was jogging to meet him and turned him around by his shoulder. Even though she couldn't hear them, the look on her dad's face was pure fury. Alice held her hands to his cheek, obviously asking what was wrong, concerned for his welfare, and how he was dealing with losing his young apprentice.

Riley watched as her father slowly pulled Alice's hands from his face and clung to them tightly. His face relaxed only slightly as he started to speak. Whatever he said made Alice turn around to look at Riley, her mouth hanging open and tears in her eyes, when she saw her daughter was watching her, she quickly turned away and flung her arms around her husband.

"It's our turn, Riley." Maggie whispered.

Riley forced herself to look away from her parents in their embrace, and went through the process of picking up a handful of dirt and standing just at the edge of Billy's grace. Maggie did the same. Now, staring down at her beloved boyfriend's wooden casket, Riley let her tears cry, she held up her hand, Maggie shadowing her movements, and let the dirt slip from her fingers down onto the coffin. "Bye, Billy." She whispered, feeling her sister's fingers squeeze in her hand.

As Riley turned away, she was engulfed in a huge hug by Carmen who stated over and over again that she was so glad Riley was alright, and that she was thankful she had come into Billy's life. Riley nodded, unable to speak.

"We have to find my parents," Maggie spoke up, leading her sister away. "I'm sorry."

Riley closed her eyes as Maggie dragged her off, so thankful her sister could read her body language and get her the hell out of there. "Thanks, Mags." She muttered when they were out of earshot as the pair headed for their family car.

"Please, I can barely stand that woman on good days," Maggie said with a dry laugh. "Where are mum and dad?"

"Over there." Riley could see them already sitting in the sedan, waiting for their children. "What is up with them?"

Maggie just shook her head, her soft, chocolate brown curls framing her pretty face. "Parent stuff?" She shrugged. "Kid dying... maybe they're freaking that it could have been you..."

With an agreeable nod, Riley accepted that. It was fair enough; she supposed; she didn't know what she would be like if she'd been the parent in the accident, and not the child.

But when Maggie and Riley climbed into the backseat of their car, Riley changed her mind almost immediately; because the tension she felt was almost palpable.

"You ready to go?" her father asked in a voice that sounded not like his own.

Riley could only nod, silenced by the stark change in his demeanour. The silence continued the whole way home, no one said a word, but again Riley was thankful to Maggie, who didn't let go of her hand once that whole day.

**xxx**

_Present Day - Island_

Riley had never been much of a hiker, and that was basically confirmed as she trudged after Boone and Locke through the jungle, sweating and panting, trying not to make noisy breaths to let them know how much she was struggling. Once they reached a flat clearing it was easier, but Riley still felt like a mess, and it didn't help that with that kiss with Boone repeating in her mind; she found herself staring at his sweaty, tanned arms as he walked ahead of her.

It wasn't long before they found a trail; and Locke suggested they mark their progress by line of sight, tying pieces of an old red shirt to tree trunks so they could follow them back if need be. Boone took over the job, wanting Locke to just be focused on finding the trail and being able to get them back to camp.

Riley began to lag behind again as the hill grew steeper. Up ahead she heard Locke call out that the ground was unsteady and to take care. He kept walking, but Boone stopped and waited for her.

"I can do it myself." Riley said with a grin, proving her point by stomping up the path past him.

Boone grinned. "Yeah, I just wanted to follow you for awhile." He muttered.

Riley blushed and turned to quip back at him; but as she spun Boone stepped on a large clump of dirt that crumbled under his foot and he slipped down the side of the incline. "Boone!" Riley called out. "Locke, help!" Riley got onto her backside and started sliding down the side of the hill after him. She hit solid ground after a few seconds and found Boone groaning over a cut on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so." Boone grumbled, pressing his hand on his wound to stop the bleeding.

"Don't, you're hands are dirty," Riley shrugged off her backpack and took out a water bottle and a white singlet. "Give it." She gestured to his arm; which he moved in front of her. Riley washed out the wound and then ripped up her singlet and tied a shred of the fabric around it. "There."

"Wow, that's cool. I didn't know you were a doctor, too."

"It's not doctor stuff, stupid, it's common sense." Riley smirked at him. "Wounds get infected."

Locke appeared behind them, apparently having found a much safer way to climb down rather than scooting along on his butt like Riley had. "Everyone ok?" He asked, smiling knowingly down at them.

"Yeah, fine," Boone took Riley's arm and they stood up together.

"Then let's keep moving." Locke headed off again.

Riley kept hanging onto Boone's arm, wondering if he'd let go if she didn't... or if he wouldn't let go if she did... silly, girly stuff like that, and then something caught her eye and made her drop Boone's hand right then and there. "Wait." The something turned out to be a piece of white tape with an "L" written on it in black ink. With a sickening feeling, Riley recognized it as one of the four tapes Charlie had on the fingers of one hand that spelled out L-A-T-E.

Locke took three long strides and was at Riley's side, snatching the tape from her fingers. "It's Charlie's." He said.

"Yeah; obviously." Riley said. "Do you think it fell off?" She looked around the clearing to see if she could spot any of the other pieces of tape.

Locke shook his head. "No..." He looked ominously out into the jungle. "He's leaving us a trail..."

**xxx**

_Flashback – Three Years Ago_

The night following Billy's funeral, Riley couldn't sleep. She'd slept basically through the last few days, from her quick admission to the hospital following the accident until she had to get up and suffer through the funeral. So, now more awake than she should be at three AM, Riley thought she'd creep downstairs and watch a movie. She managed to get out of bed and her room without waking Maggie, who was curled up on one side of Riley's bed with a pillow cuddled around her head; and headed downstairs.

She didn't expect to have to fight for the remote at this hour.

"Dad?" She whispered as she came into the living room, noticing her father had a drink in his hand. This only added to his strange behaviour; her father never drank. At least, not in a dark room in the middle of the night while his family slept upstairs.

"Hi, honey," Joel said tiredly, turning to smile at her. "Can't sleep, huh?"

Riley just shook her head, not bothering to tell him she'd had enough sleep for now. "Is Mum awake?"

"No, no," Joel said. "She's still sleeping."

Perturbed by his curious demeanour, Riley just stared at him for a few moments. "Is everything ok, Dad?" She asked.

Joel looked up at his daughter, brown eyes catching hers. "What do you mean?"

"You've been acting... weird." She couldn't think of how else to put it.

Joel chuckled a short, dry laugh. "We've been through Hell this week, Riley."

"I know but you're not..." She bit her lip and folded her arms across her chest. "You're not... sad."

Joel just looked at his hands, in which he cradled his drink, and didn't look up at her.

"I mean, I know you don't really get sad... and people deal with grief their own way... but today at the funeral you looked so angry..." Riley babbled. "And you were _walking away_. I mean... Billy was your friend, wasn't he? You told me you liked him." Tears began to well in her eyes again. "Why aren't you upset that he's dead?"

"Riley..."

"Why?" She demanded, raising her voice as high as she dared.

"I didn't want to tell you," Joel sighed, settling back into the couch, pushing his drink onto the table. "I didn't want you to have that memory in your head."

Now Riley was getting angry. "What are you talking about?"

"Billy..." Joel sighed. "He pushed you."

Riley furrowed her eyebrows. "What?"

"Into the water at the lake." Joel continued his obvious anger still visible in the tight way he kept his lips as he spoke. "Do you remember? You two were on the roof, photographing the clouds. I was in the back checking readings..."

Riley's head actually ached as she tried to think back. All she could remember was gasping for breath in the water. With a shock she realized she didn't recall how she got there.

"...I heard the dam break," Joel kept talking, despite the shock on his daughter's face. "The water was racing towards us before I even got out of the van." He rubbed his temples. "I called to Billy, told him to pass you to me. He looked... terrified. The water came right up under the car, and it shifted. You two stumbled and you grabbed his arm, for support..." Joel winced as he bit into his lip. "And he shook you off." His voice was shaking. "He _shook_ you off him and _let_ you fall in the water. I jumped in after you." Joel took a deep breath, trying to erase some of his anger. "I could hear him trying to start the truck; no way would it move in the water. It tumbled; he went with it."

Riley's mind was going a mile a minute. She loved Billy. He loved her. He told her she was "the girl" for him, which she'd laughed off as a ridiculous line, but she'd secretly adored it. He'd pushed her into the water? He'd caused her to almost drown? "Wh... why?" Was all she could manage to say to her father. "Why?"

"I don't know, honey." Joel rose to his feet and rested his hands on her shoulders. "He was scared... in hindsight I can understand that, I guess." He squared his jaw. "But I can't forgive him for almost getting you killed." He said firmly. "I trusted him. I brought him into our lives; and he let me down. He let _you_ down." Joel sighed and wrapped his daughter up in a bear hug.

Riley felt stiff in her father's arms, because she hadn't changed her position; her face was still contorted in confusion. _He'd pushed me? Billy? It doesn't make sense..._but the more Riley thought about it, it did make sense. The way her father had been acting suddenly seemed perfectly in character. He wasn't upset over Billy because he didn't believe it was an accident. He believed Billy deserved what he got because of what he did to Riley. And when Joel had told Alice; she had agreed. It was why Riley and Maggie had found them in the car after the funeral, and not mourning with everyone else.

"I'm sorry I kept it from you," Joel said quietly as he hugged Riley. "I just... didn't want you to know he was a coward."

Coward. In a million years Riley would have never used that word to describe Billy. But as she hugged her father; she remembered. She remembered the truck being knocked around by the rushing water, she remembered feeling safe when she'd grabbed onto Billy, knowing that he wouldn't let her fall in... and then she remembered the look on his face when he'd kicked her in the shoulder, and let her tumble into the river.

How could it be the same man? How could he love her, and then betray her? Billy was her first _everything_. First kiss, first date, first time she'd had sex, first time she'd gone storm hunting... over the single year they had been together; he'd been at her side through everything; she had believed that was love.

Riley didn't understand a lot of things in life; but this was one of the biggest questions she'd ever had to ask herself. If what she had with Billy wasn't love; then what the hell was?

**xxx**


	9. Chapter 9: A Twist In The Tale

**Chapter Nine: A Twist In The Tale  
**

Riley was regretting wearing shorts on this trek, stray twigs kept catching at her legs, scraping her calves and ankles mostly, at least her Converse sneakers were holding up. She followed Boone and Locke to a thankfully mostly bare clearing growing with waist high grass. A bug flew around her face and landed on her shoulder; she swatted it and promptly stepped on the edge of a puddle, slipping and falling ungracefully to her hands and knees. "Dammit!" She cried out as her clothes and what skin was left bare was coated in wet, brown mud.

"Are you okay?" Boone was hiding a smirk, at her side offering her a hand up.

"Fan-freaking-tastic." She grumbled as she grabbed his hand and climbed back up, trying to find a patch of clean skin to wipe the crud off her face; no luck. "Ugh; this stuff reeks."

"It's like, a free mud bath..." Boone said; still suppressing a smirk. "My mother would pay hundreds for a treatment like that."

Riley was unimpressed with his attempt to cheer her up, so when he turned to walk away, she hooked her foot around his ankle, sending him straight down into the same puddle she'd fallen in.

"Oh, come on!"

Riley smiled broadly and rested her hand on his shoulder. "I hear idiots pay a fortune for this experience," She patted his cheek sharply. "Enjoy."

"I don't get a hand up?" He asked as she followed after Locke.

"Nope." Riley replied, catching up to John in a few long strides – this time actually looking where she was placing her feet and successfully avoiding more puddles.

Locke suddenly turned around to face her. "It's going to start raining, in one minute." He stated.

Boone jogged up behind them. "One minute?" He repeated, scraping mud off his forearms.

"Give or take a few seconds. You two should turn around," He gestured to the way they had just come, pointing out one of Boone's redshirt markers. "The trail's been cold for a quarter mile, dangerous terrain ahead. If you start now, you'll make it back to camp before dark."

Boone's handsome brow knitted together. "What about you?"

"I can take care of myself." Locke said with a grin.

"No, I'm not heading back." He turned to Riley, raising his eyebrows.

Riley thought heading back sounded like an _awesome_ idea, but she most certainly couldn't go back on her own, that's what had happened to Charlie and Claire, they'd gone off on their own and been kidnapped by someone... something. "Yeah, we should stay together." She said.

"I admire your courage, but..."

"We're not heading back." Boone said with a loose shrug of his shoulders.

Locke gave them a somewhat proud nod. "Alright, then."

Thunder cracked above them and a shower of heavy, thick rain splattered down to the ground, drenching the trio in seconds. Riley squealed; pulling her shirt up over her head, but it was pointless, the rain just soaked through, and thus was cleaning off her skin, she couldn't do anything but laugh. Locke was grinning; arms open as if he was greeting the weather, and it just made Riley laugh more.

"They teach you how to predict the weather in a box company?" Boone hollered over the torrent as he, too, was overcome with laughter.

**xxx**

Night fell quickly across the island, and Riley soon found herself pretty clean of the mud, but shivering in the cold as she trudged after Boone and Locke. They hadn't found Claire or Charlie, or any more of Charlie's finger tags. Riley felt like they were going in circles, but Locke assured her that he knew where he was going.

Boone fell back into step with Riley and shared his water with her. "You holding up okay?"

Riley took a long drink and nodded as she swallowed. "Trying not to think of this place like an Enchanted forest... danger, refuge, or adventure?"

"Maybe all three?"

"Maybe." Riley agreed. "You know in Grimm's Fairy Tales, the hero usually always goes into the forest."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, like there's this one, _The Hut in the Forest_, used to creep me out." Riley said, recalling the scary voice she used to use when she retold it to her little sister when they were younger. This father sends his daughter out into the forest to get food for him and the rest of the family. So she goes, gets lost, and finds a hut with a man with some chickens and a cow. He says she can stay if she feeds him. So she does, and he lets her stay the night up in the loft, and after she goes to sleep she falls through a trap door into the cellar. The next day, the father sends his second daughter out, same thing happens to her. On the third day, he sends his youngest daughter out; she finds the hut, plays with the chickens, feeds the cow, cooks for the guy, and goes to sleep. She wakes up in a palace with a prince; who has been enchanted; waiting for a woman who was kind to all living things to be his wife."

"That's... creepy."

"Well, it's a Grimm tale," Riley pointed out. "It does have a happily ever after... of sorts... they get married... but the two sisters are sent to be servants until they learn not to let animals suffer in hunger."

"So you're a storm chaser who likes creepy old fairy tales?"

Riley nodded. "Under my cool, calm facade lies the nerdy brain of a girl obsessed with fairytales."

"Well, I'd love to hear another one when we get back to the beach."

"Are you sure you wanna open that door? Cos I got a million creepy tales..."

"I just survived a plane crash; nothing can scare me now." He set his face like a tough-guy in a bad movie; Riley laughed.

"Boone?" Locke came intruding through the path. "I've found something you should see..." His eyes were wider than normal, glinting in the moonlight.

"What?"

"I think..." He panted. "It's a hatch."

**xxx**

They arrived at the beach in the early hours of the morning, and Locke had convinced Riley and Boone to keep quiet about the hatch. All it was so far was some sort of metal handle sticking out of the dirt, Locke thought that it was the lid of some sort of bunker; to Riley it just looked like the side of a delivery van with a weird lever. The only other person she would have told was Claire; who was still missing.

Charlie had been found by Jack and Kate, hanging by his neck, left for dead. He didn't say much, but what he did say was profoundly spine-chilling. "_All they wanted was Claire_..."

He didn't know who _They_ were, and didn't remember much else, just that he was knocked out, Claire was screaming, and they were separated. He was lucky to be alive, even Riley could see that. His neck had red and purple bruising from the vines that had strangled him, his face was cut and swollen, and he kept well away from any people, doing nothing to make himself seem approachable. No one bothered him.

Riley's tent felt really empty without Claire in it; it had since she'd moved with Charlie to the caves, but this was a different feeling of emptiness. Before, she'd known Claire was within walking distance... now she had no idea where she was.

Clothes somewhat clean but still with mud stains on them, Riley pulled the modesty tarpaulin door closed on her now too-big-for-one tent and dug around behind the plane cushions she used as a bed where she kept her clothes and found only a caramel summer dress; not the best clothing to wear out trekking to the hatch, but it was clean and dry, so it was perfect.

"Riley?" Boone was outside her tent. "I'd knock but... y'know, no door."

Pulling the dress down over her body and making sure her boobs were both securely inside the fabric, Riley cleared her throat. "Yeah, come in."

"Wow..." Boone let out a low whistle as he peered around the tent. "You got a nice place."

"Thanks." Riley muttered.

"Are you alright?"

"Why her?" Riley blurted out. "Why Claire? Why not Charlie, too? Why not me? Or you or Shannon or Jack or Sawyer? Why not anyone else? Why _Claire_?"

"When we find her; we can ask." Boone said confidently. "And we _will_ find her."

"When?" Riley snorted. "Locke is totally involved with that hatch thing now; he doesn't care about looking for Claire anymore."

"You don't know that."

Riley sighed deeply and relaxed all her muscles so she slumped forwards a little, Boone seemed to take this as an invitation for a hug, and though she hadn't intended on one, Riley happily snuggled against his chest as he put his arms around her. He smelled good; like sea water and fresh rain. She inhaled his scent once more and pulled away from him with a thankful smile.

"I said I'd go meet Locke at the hatch..." He said, a little uncertainly. "You could come?"

Riley shook her head; the hatch just gave her a weird feeling when she thought about going back to it. It was buried; things that are buried should stay buried. "I have loads of washing to do," She nodded down to her pile of muddy clothes. "Exciting, I know..."

"Try to get Shannon to help you," Boone offered, squeezing her hand. "Although good luck with that. And hey, when I get back tonight I wanna hear another one of those Grimm stories."

He succeeded in making Riley smile. "Ok." She agreed, her smile slowly fading as he retreated out of the tent and into the jungle. She watched him leave, hoping he wasn't as into this hatch idea as Locke was... he was a guy her age... surely she was more interesting than hanging out with an old bald guy with a bunker obsession?

Her eyes scanned to the ocean, catching a glimpse of Boone's beautiful, sunbathing sister, Shannon, just on the edge of the water. Almost as if she knew Riley's eyes were on her, she turned, catching her gaze. Riley smiled and waved – she knew Shannon had seen her, but she didn't wave back. She just flipped over onto her stomach and rested her head against her arms, completely ignoring Riley's gesture.

With a sigh, Riley went back to her laundry, she wasn't going to force friendship on a girl who clearly didn't like her for some reason; and truthfully she didn't care. Shannon had been stuck beside Boone since they crashed, and now Boone was milling with the crowds, with Jack and Locke and Riley; he was making himself known, useful. Whereas Shannon acted like she was on vacation. It made her think of her and her own sister, Maggie... the two sibling relationships could not have been more different.

**xxx**


	10. Chapter 10: A Swing And A Hatch

_Sorry for the long delay in updates! But I'm back, and things are about to go off script...  
AN - Matt belongs to Bec! :) Though I love him, I don't own him :)  
_

**Chapter Ten: A Swing And A Hatch**

Riley didn't approach Shannon to help with her laundry; she was happier without the added stress of an awkward conversation with a girl she was pretty sure found her irritating. And the work was good; it kept Riley's mind off of Claire's kidnapping, and missing home, instead she became intently focused on scrubbing mud out of her jeans, and searching for a sewing kit to stitch up the hole in the back of her hooded jacket.

The sun was crazy hot; perfect for drying all Riley's clothes, and as she hung them over the rope that stood in as a washing line, it was only a matter of chance that she happened to catch the end of Jack's conversation with Sayid.

"We need to get all this stuff off the beach before nightfall." Jack was eying everything that made up the beach town.

"Wait; what?" Riley chucked her damp shirt over the clothesline rope. "What are you talking about?"

"The tide is coming in." Jack said, nodding out at the ocean. "All of this will be under water by sundown."

"No, it won't." If there was one thing Riley knew well; it was weather. "It's a tide, it came up far last night, but not far enough to reach our stuff. We have at least two more nights before it swells up to camp." Sayid and Jack looked at her like she'd just spoken Russian. "Short hand; we have time."

"How do you know that?"

"Same reason you know how to fix people." She shrugged. "It's what I do... or used to do."

"You didn't think to tell anyone the beach camp would flood?" Sayid asked accusingly.

"It won't _flood_." Riley replied curtly. "The water will just come in further and further, and I was kinda hoping we'd be rescued before we'd have to worry about weather patterns."

"We should move people inland."

"Good luck with that." Riley scoffed. "Dunno how it works in Cave Town but down here we're pretty freaked of the jungle, especially since Claire's been taken and with what happened to Charlie."

"We could move up the beach?" A helpful voice suggested.

Riley recognized her agreeable new friend, though she didn't know his name, she'd seen his kind face floating around the beach camp, carrying water to and from the caves, and she was pretty sure he'd held a door open for her at the airport cafe before they'd boarded 8-1-5.

"Take shifts; get stuff sorted out so we don't leave anything behind." He continued.

Jack's eyes lingered on the man for a moment, and then went back to Riley. "You think you can handle that?"

Happy to have a task that was useful, Riley nodded. "Sure."

"Matt." The man introduced himself to Riley as Jack and Sayid headed off. "You're Riley, right? I think we met on day one?"

"Yeah, probably." Riley shrugged and gave him a friendly smile. "Thank you for your suggestion, I don't think these people take me seriously sometimes. I _know_ weather."

"You don't have to convince me." Matt's grin widened. "I got a sister who knows everything, too."

Opening her mouth to protest, Riley instead dismissed his brotherly remark and set about finding bags to pack up all the dry clothes she could, as well as mentioning to any beach goers she past that they were preparing to move on up the beach for when the tide rose. Matt helped out, also gathering bags and alerting the news of the move to those he passed.

It was while packing up a bag clothes that Riley was shocked out of systematic work by Boone's urgent yell. "Locke and I found another hatch!" He blurted, gesturing at her to follow him. "Come on!"

Abandoning her packing, Riley took off after Boone into the jungle. She followed his voice until out of breath they came to a stop. They were both panting and doubled over, resting their hands on their knees and gulping in huge breaths. When Riley looked up; she didn't see any hatch. Not that that meant anything, the one they'd found was buried underground.

"I lied. It's not a hatch." He pointed to a tree next to them. Specifically to a high branch, from which hung two long, thick pieces of rope holding up a flat little rectangle of Oceanic 8-1-5.

"A swing?" Riley grinned and pushed the piece of plane wreckage with holes in it that acted as the seat. "You made a swing?"

"Fun, huh?" He stood behind her and offered her the swing. "I tested it over and over again, it won't break. Promise."

With a thread of uncertainty, Jordyn carefully sat herself on the swing and stayed immobile in case the branch above her snapped. But it didn't. Boone began pushing her gently, not too hard. It was clearly not a swing made to last, but she could get a few rides on it before the ropes succumbed to the weather or the metal rusted in the rain.

After a few gentle swings back and forth, Boone held the ropes in place so the swing was still. He edged closer to her, preparing to kiss her lips, but he paused. "Riley..." He whispered, nudging his forehead against hers. "I have to tell you something."

"Oh, please don't tell me something that's gonna make me hate you." Riley said, teasing at first, but she saw the flicker of worry cross Boone's clear eyes. It was only there for a second, and then it was replaced with a wide smile.

"Nah," He said. "I'm helping Locke with the hatch later. He gave me time off to show you this." He bumped the swing.

"Time off?" Riley repeated, getting to her feet. "So you work for him now, huh?"

"Don't you wanna know what's in that hatch?" Boone asked, slipping his arm around her shoulders and directing them on the path back to the beach.

"I dunno." Riley replied honestly. "In the Grimm tale about Snow White, it's a secret room where the Queen makes the poison apple. What if an Evil Queen lives down there?"

"Yeah," Boone scoffed a little. "I doubt it."

"Race you!" Riley shoved Boone off her and sprinted back along the path towards the beach with his yells of how she was cheating echoing through the jungle behind her.

**xxx**

As the sun began to set, and Riley was folding her dry clothes, she received a visit from the last person she expected to seek her out.

"I know what he wanted to tell you." Shannon said crossing her arms across her chest. In contrast to how she usually acted around Riley, Shannon seemed nervous.

Riley just shrugged. "I don't understand what you're saying, Shannon."

"Boone." Shannon continued. "I saw you two. Your swing?" She smiled, almost apologetically. "I know what he wanted to say. He's my step-brother." She bit her lower lip. "He's... kind of in love with me." She gulped. "That's what he wanted to tell you."

Riley felt her eyebrows rise and a laugh building in her throat. "What?"

"He has been for awhile." Shannon continued. "I guess he likes you, so it's... weird."

A sick feeling bubbled in Riley's stomach. One that she couldn't just ignore. Shannon wasn't her friend by any means, but of all things to lie about...

Seeing Boone at the edge of the forest, Riley sprinted away from Shannon to catch up with him. As she ran she wasn't sure what she'd say, but she knew his reaction would be her answer. Boone smiled when he turned around and saw her, but his smile faded as soon as Riley opened her mouth.

"Shannon." Riley relayed exactly what his step-sister had told her, and was struck with panic when he didn't reply to her. "Is that true?" Her heart pounded against her ribcage, and when Boone still didn't answer her it thumped harder. "Boone?" Her mouth went dry, Boone was looking at his feet. "It's a yes or no question."

He looked up at her now, his eyes stormy and a faint flinching in his clenched jaw. But still; he said nothing.

"Yes or no?" Riley whispered with a wistful smile.

Still, no answer. Which, in itself, was the answer. And the thought made Riley sick to her stomach. Of all the flaws for someone to have...

With angry tears misting her eyes, Riley pushed past Boone and stormed into the jungle. Before she knew it, she was running the path to her swing. Muddled feelings coursed through her body, feelings she couldn't identify having never been in a similar situation at any point in her life. Tornadoes she could handle, a boy she liked being in love with his step-sister... she didn't know how to handle that.

A rustling of the shrubs caught Riley's attention. At first she thought it was someone following her, but the noise was coming from up ahead. From _within_ the forest. Her heart started pounding again.

A beautiful, blonde with ocean blue eyes emerged, and smiled at her. "Hi, Riley." She held out a brown, fabric bag. "I'm going to need you to put this on."

Riley was already backing away, her senses screaming at her that she was in danger. She turned to run and immediately felt something bite the back of her shoulder blade. It was hot and cold at the same time, and she was on the floor writhing as currents of electricity buzzed through her. Her brain screamed at her to get up and to run, but her body had no control. A heavy darkness clouded her mind, and Riley blacked out.

**xxx**


End file.
